Do You like book The F-Word (1999)?
What intrigued me about The F-word was that it was written by Jesse Sheilder, former Principal North American Editor of the OED (Oxford English Dictionary). Obviously, he is familiar with a lot of interesting words, so if he felt a need to write a book about this one, I am not one to second guess.One downfall of reading via an e-reader is not being able to easily flip through a book before setting out. Thus, I did not know that The F-word is primarily a dictionary of F-terms. The first 40pp or so introduce the usage of the term (along with considerable attention given to the C-word) through its known etymological introduction into verbal and written usage. The examination follows origin, usage in plays and books then literary and news periodicals and finally to film and television. This is rather more fascinating than expected.The rest of the book is a compilation of the authors know usage variations, compiled alphabetically from A-Z. Or actually from absofuckinglutely through zipless fuck. Each of the hundreds of terms are defined and originated. Although it is fun to look up a few old favorites, reading each would get rather monotonous, so I can's say I actually read all of this book. Still, it might be a good resource to have on hand the next time I have a need to be as eloquent as possible when telling someone to fuck off.
—Jonathan Burt
A mini-dictionary about the most scandalous word in American English. I don't know if goodreads even allows the use of the word in a review so I will simply refer to it as f*ck. This edition also includes words derived from f*ck used in other English speaking countries, such as Australia, The United Kingdom and Canada. It is not a joke book, it won't cause you to fall over in fits of laughter, but if you honestly need a reference book for all things f*ck this is it. Extremely well researched and easy to read but not the type of book you will read cover to cover. It is more likely something you will pull from the shelf when trying to settle an argument about the origin of the word f*ck, or when you want to find a completely ridiculous new word that uses f*ck. I have actually used it as a reference for words that I use in my stand-up, and it does tend to crack people up when they notice it on a book shelf.
—Juliet Jeske
This book caught my eye when I was browsing round a bookshop a few years ago. Well it is quite eye-catching - what with it being bright yellow and having the asterisked legend 'f***' embossed in black on the cover.The editor, Jesse Sheidlower lives in Manhattan with "his wife, his dog, his two razor-clawed cats, and a f#@k of a lot of books." He describes this book as: "the complete history of the word in all its robust and various uses" and claims that: "this book contains every sense of fuck,
—Phillip Edwards