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DIRTY WORDS: A LITERARY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SEX

Shit. Piss. Fuck. Cunt. Cocksucker. Motherfucker. Tits. These were the seven obscenities which were the subject of intense scrutiny in the 1978 Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation. So how did these filthy terms make it to the hallowed halls of our nation's highest judiciary. George Carlin, that's how. A broadcast by the Pacifica radio station WBAI of Carlin's infamous "Seven Dirty Words" monologue formed the basis of the Supreme Court's ruling which established indecency regulations. But in Ellen Sussman's new book, the dirty word count is far more than seven. Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex (Bloomsbury) is a collection of essays by some of the nation's finest writers, arranged as a reference book with each chapter defining, and then exploring, the associations and implications of a particular dirty word. Jonathan Ames, who, in his novels like I Love You More than You Know, has already displayed a taste for the perverse, takes on the topic of vaginal ejaculation; Ravi Shankar writes an ode to the quickie; and former 'zine queen Pagan Kennedy pens a piece about the phallus. And, much like a traditional encyclopedia, you will probably learn something new. So if someone requests a 'hum job,' calls you a 'lug,' asks you to touch their 'taint,' or admits that they're a chronic 'fobber,' you will know what they're talking about.