Wordslut

She had me, not quite at hello, but certainly by the second page, and she kept me hooked the entire way through. So many of my favorite subjects! Linguistics. Etymology. Culture, anthropology, listening, communicating. Snark. Ideas. Smart, strong, sexy women working together to smash the patriarchy. I want to read it again. I want to buy a dozen copies to give away.

Not all of it was entirely comprehensible, but that's my fault: I'm too old and unhip. I still don't really know what “vocal fry” is, despite friend A. spending 20 minutes with me on it. (Or, I guess I now know more about it, but I've never noticed it and don't understand why it's such a huge deal to some people). And there are terms like “yas” and ”werk” that completely whooshed over my head. But that's cool — I mean hip — or groovy — or phat? Whatever. By far the majority of the book is informative, thoughtful, relevant, and a joy to read: Montell writes beautifully and with gusto.