About this episode

Rob and Jess discuss slurs and taboos with Professor John McWhorter, exploring language and self-censorship.

Rob and Jess are joined by the brilliant John McWhorter to discuss words you're not allowed to use. Professor McWhorter has written extensively about taboos, slurs and profanities and brings his unparalleled expertise on the English language. 🤬 Is "the R word" becoming even more taboo? 🤐 Are we "unaliving" our way to a new era of self-censorship? 🔄 Can a slur ever be truly "reclaimed"? These questions answered, and many more, in a fascinatingly frank episode of Words Unravelled. More about John: https://johnmcwhorter.org/ 📕 Nine Nasty Words: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624619/nine-nasty-words-by-john-mcwhorter/ 👕 OUR MERCH 👚 US SHOP: https://wordsunravelledshop.myspreadshop.com/ EU/UK SHOP: https://wordsunravelledshop.myspreadshop.net/ Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/6JYqGa_-UZE

People in this episode

Hosts: RobWords, Jess Zafarris

Guest: John McWhorter

Topics covered

• slurs
• taboos
• self-censorship
• language
• profanities

Keywords

• slurs
• taboos
• self-censorship
• language
• profanities
• John McWhorter
• Nine Nasty Words

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nine Nasty Words, Penguin Random House, Words Unravelled

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