From Criminal Slang to Modern Acceptability: ‘Kibosh’

Some words and phrases are so significant, so revealing of our society and our view of language and the world, that they deserve a book of their own. So, for example, we have Ain’t: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published by David Skinner (HarperCollins 2012).

Then there is Jesse Sheidlower’s demurely titled The F-Word (which shamelessly spells it out on the pages inside), now in its third edition (Oxford University Press, 2009).

But the unquestioned champion ...