Bawdy Language: The Book

• Possibly the most accessible, colorful etymology book currently in publication.
     —Seattle P.I.
  
  

• I laughed my ass off. Also, my rear, bum and can.
     —A.J. Jacobs, Esquire
  
  

• Fascinating and titillating.Jam-packed with information. Add the lovely illustrations on every page and you have a most enjoyable read.
     —Take Our Word for It
  
  

• An unusual present, for those of you making your lists and checking them twice, Two indexes, one of persons and works, and one of topics, plus a large bibliography, make this more than a curiosity. Trust me-that person on your list who has everything doesn't have this.
     —Verbatim
  
  

• A fun book for adults whose love of words knows no bounds.
     —Associated Press
  
  

• A lexicon of colorful, quaint, euphemistic, and often raunchy terms to liven any discussion of sexual matters. Recommended for being a tongue-in-cheek and highly amusing (yet quite practical) guide to talking dirty while avoiding unpolished obscenity and retaining the respect of one's peers and both genders.
     —The Midwest Book Review
  
  

• "Terrific, entertaining, well researched, and just plain fuckin' good."
     —George Carlin
  
  

• "A dirty mind is a terrible thing to waste. If you love words and erotica, you must read this punographic masterpiece."
     —Richard Lederer, Wordsmith, Author of The Cunning Linguist
  
  

• "An excellent history for both the profane and the casual user."
     —Robert Klein, Comedian, Actor
  
  

• "Bawdy Language is a delightful book that brings an astounding amount of research and scholarship to words we might not have thought had anything to teach us about who we are and from where we have come. The author takes us on a journey through the etymological history of the underside of the English language and he does so with wit, intelligence and sly puns. The illustrations and quoted material in the margins enrich the volume enormously as this book will enrich the lives of those open to learning about themselves through the words which we all know, and might even occasionally say, if only to ourselves in silence."
     —Julius Lester, author, Professor, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, University of Massachusetts
  
  

• "A great book…funny, informative, crammed with historical minutiae."
     —Mike Henderson, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post Service
  
  

• "If any book on sex can be said to be indispensable this is it…Billed as "The Last Word on Sex," it is hilariously -intentionally so-and delightful."
     —Seattle Weekly (Fred Moody)
  
  

• "Entertaining and informative. It adds life and respectability to a subject normally deadened by professional dullards or cheapened by sleazy scribblers. Get your copy and benefit from the years of work Paros has spent compiling this clean treatise on dirty words."
     —Dr. Reinhold Aman, editor, Maledicta, The International Journal of Verbal Aggression
  
  

• "The best combination of erudition and sheer entertainment I've seen on the subject."
     —SEXYG, The Sexuality Special Interest Group of American MENSA
  
  

• "Copious and Entertaining."
     —Willard Espy
  
  

• "I think this is one book which I would not want to be identified with."
     —Edwin Newman, Former NBC Commentator and Wordsmith}
  
  

• "…A real dictionary that includes and discusses the bad words of unhemmed latitude, coarseness, directness, live epithets, expletives and words of opprobrium."
     —Walt Whitman (As per his last wish)

More rave book reviews coming in as we speak…

The Author:

Lawrence Paros is a master teacher whose work in alternative education has received national recognition; an amateur neuroscientist who has helped design and market a unique device for the treatment of stress, and a professional writer, and self-described authority on language. His published works include numerous articles and a book on education, two earlier books on language, The Great American Cliché (Workman) and The Erotic Tongue (Madrona and Holt), and Smashcaps, a children's book (Avon). He is also a former op-ed page columnist for the Seattle Post Intelligencer and commentator on KUOW-FM, the NPR affiliate in Seattle.

His Web site, A Word with You (http://www.wordwithyou.com) has garnered numerous awards and attracted more then a half million visitors since its inception. It has also inspired two self-published volumes (A Word with You America), one version of which is soon to be published in China. He is currently working on his magnum opus on education, The Once and Future School: The Story of the Y.S.H.S.

An accomplished public speaker, Paros has had extensive teaching and lecturing experience; in the course of promoting his earlier works, he has been interviewed on dozens of TV shows and over 100 radio stations.

A cantankerous sexagenarian (what else?), he lives quietly on the periphery of Seattle Washington with his two cats and a teenage son to whom he is an endless source of embarrassment.

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Book Samples & Excerpts

• Front & back cover, table of contents
• Chapter samples (21)
• Daily book excerpts