This was another good chapter. You know, had Pinker reordered the chapters, with the most dense chapters coming last, more people would have read a significant portion of the book.
I was impressed with how deftly Pinker discuss profanity without being excessively profane. It was a well written.
A few ideas stood out. As society has become less religious, curse words have switched from religious concepts to sex & filth. Swearing is connected to a deeper, more primitive, part of the brain than ordinary conversation.
Plus, there was a delightful discussion of one significant word.
As Pinker explains, the transitive variations of that word are all rather nasty, while the intransitive versions, such as
make love, are much more kind.
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