The ascent of the A-word assholism, the first sixty years

Presents a history of the word "asshole"--from its use by World War II servicemen to express frustration at arrogant superiors to its first use in print by Norman Mailer to George W. Bush's use of the word to describe a journalist.

Main Author: Nunberg, Geoffrey, 1945-
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York, NY : PublicAffairs, c2012.
Edition: 1st ed.
Subjects:
Summary: Presents a history of the word "asshole"--from its use by World War II servicemen to express frustration at arrogant superiors to its first use in print by Norman Mailer to George W. Bush's use of the word to describe a journalist.
Physical Description: xvii, 251 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-232) and index.
ISBN: 9781610391757 (hbk.) :
1610391756 (hbk.) :
Author Notes: He is a principal scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center & a consulting professor in the Department of Linguistics at Stanford University. He is also chair of the Usage Panel of The American Heritage Dictionary of the english Language. He lives in San Francisco.

(Bowker Author Biography)