A lot of what McWhorter has to say is fascinating, but I have three issues with this book:
1) it is largely about American use of the nine words. There is the occasional nod towards British usage, but mostly in the vein of "we Americans find some British uses of this word as unthinkable". Some of the words discussed have slightly different meanings and usages in the UK, and doubtless in other English speaking countries. It's hard to know how this can be avoided, but it jarred a bit for me.
2) this is a popular treatment of the 'swear words', with a relaxed and vernacular style - an American vernacular style. I'm well acquainted with the topic in general, but as an older speaker of British English I found that there were points that I didn't completely understand what McWhorter was saying, because I am not fluent in American vernacular speech. This means that his message will be less well understood by any English speakers not based in the US. For this reason I would have preferred a less populist treatment.
3) being British I didn't understand a lot of his examples using American culture - particularly referring to sit-coms, etc. I was glad to be reading it on Kindle which allowed me to look up some of the TV shows as I was reading.
Overall, fascinating information, but marred for me by the overly American bias.
Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever
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