Rebecca Roache, "For F*ck's Sake: Why Swearing Is Shocking, Rude, and Fun" (Oxford UP, 2023)
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What is the central thesis of Rebecca Roache’s book on swearing?
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Hello and welcome to New Books and Philosophy, a podcast channel with the New Books Network. I'm Sarah Tyson, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Denver. I'm co-host of the channel along with Carrie Fichtor, Robert Sleese, and Malcolm Keating. Together we bring you conversations with philosophers about their new books, drawing from a wide range of areas of contemporary philosophical interview. Today's interview is with Rebecca Roach, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, and host of the podcast, The Academic Imperfectionist. Her book, For F's Sake, Why Swearing is Shocking, Rude, and Fun, is just out from Oxford University Press. Swearing can be a powerful communicative act, for good or ill.
The same word can incite violence or increase intimacy. How is swearing so multivalent in its power? Is it just all those harsh C and K sounds? Does swearing take its power from taboo meaning? Why is swearing sometimes so funny? Rebecca Roach offers us rich insights into the complex importance of swearing to help us understand who gets judged too harshly for doing it, why it's important to be able to offend with swearing, why we might need to advocate for some swear words, and so much more. And heads up, as you might have guessed, this interview contains a discussion of swearing. So it mentions some swear words. If you don't want to hear these words, I recommend that you stop listening. Rebecca Roach, welcome to New Books and Philosophy.
Thank you. I'm happy to be here. It's great to have you. Um, so let's jump in with you telling us a bit about yourself, your background as a philosopher, and how you came to write this book. How did you get interested in swearing?
Yeah, well I've I've had uh a an unvaried and unexciting career in in one way. I've I've I went to university age eighteen to study philosophy and it's been kind of philosophy ever since. Apart from a little detour into IT. Um for a few years, but but yes, um I I started out I I think I've probably dived into most areas in analytic philosophy throughout my time. Um used to be into sort of metaphysics, philosophy of mind, personal identity, that sort of thing. Um and over time became more interested in applied philosophy, so applied ethics and eventually. um sort of social and ethical issues to do with language, which is how I ended up to uh discussing swearing. But yes, it came it came about just because I'm um I'm someone that sort of constantly has different projects on the go and is really bad at finishing any of
So while I was supposed to be working on something else, um I started thinking about swearing.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the central thesis of Rebecca Roache’s book on swearing?
0:00–12:30
2
How did Rebecca Roache become interested in the philosophy of swearing?
12:30–23:12
3
How does the book define swearing and distinguish it from other taboo language?
23:12–36:29
4
Why is context crucial for the meaning and impact of swear words?
36:29–56:33
5
What is ‘offense escalation’ and how does it explain the power of swear words?
56:33–58:09
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from New Books in Philosophy
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