In development
Proper Fucking English
Putting bad language to good use!
Peter Liptak
Putting bad language to good use: the expressions, intentions, and social situations that make a swear word work—or make it a very bad idea.
This book is taking shape. A publication date and purchase edition have not been announced here.
Upcoming books at Exile Press ↗English with the polite bits taken off.
A single word can express delight, disappointment, affection, disbelief, or the complete collapse of your afternoon. Change the tone, the company, or the moment, and it can do something entirely different. Proper Fucking English explores that unruly expressive territory.
Slang and swearing come with context. Who is talking? To whom? How well do they know each other? What are they trying to do? This book is being built around language as people actually use it, with humor and attention to the difference between playful, forceful, awkward, and offensive.
For want of a good fuck.
The Book One notes begin with an introduction and “For Want of a Good Fuck,” then move into “Other Bodily Functions” and “The Jargon of Genitalia.” Drafts mix dialogue, examples, wordplay, and commentary on how expressions change meaning in use.
The aim is expressive range with a working sense of register: enough understanding to recognize the joke, hear the intention, and decide whether an expression belongs in your own mouth.
Still being put to good use.
The project has substantial notes, overlapping chapter drafts, and illustrated layout studies. The text is being selected and developed into a book; the cover shown here is development artwork, and a release edition has not been announced.