# Slurs and taboos with Professor John McWhorter

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/words-unravelled-with-robwords-and-jess-zafarris-6871407/slurs-and-taboos-with-professor-john-mcwhorter
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/words-unravelled-with-robwords-and-jess-zafarris-6871407/slurs-and-taboos-with-professor-john-mcwhorter.md
Podcast: [Words Unravelled with RobWords and Jess Zafarris](https://stenobird.com/podcast/words-unravelled-with-robwords-and-jess-zafarris-6871407)
Published: 2026-03-11T06:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://audioboom.com/posts/8871878
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/audioboom.com/posts/8871878.mp3?modified=1773134920&sid=5128892&source=rss
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/words-unravelled-with-robwords-and-jess-zafarris-6871407/episodes/slurs-and-taboos-with-professor-john-mcwhorter
Duration seconds: 2599

## Resource

Rob and Jess are joined by the brilliant John McWhorter to discuss words you're not allowed to use. Professor McWhorter has written extensively about taboos, slurs and profanities and brings his unparalleled expertise on the English language. 🤬 Is "the R word" becoming even more taboo? 🤐 Are we "unaliving" our way to a new era of self-censorship? 🔄 Can a slur ever be truly "reclaimed"? These questions answered, and many more, in a fascinatingly frank episode of Words Unravelled. More about John: https://johnmcwhorter.org/ 📕 Nine Nasty Words: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624619/nine-nasty-words-by-john-mcwhorter/ 👕 OUR MERCH 👚 US SHOP: https://wordsunravelledshop.myspreadshop.com/ EU/UK SHOP: https://wordsunravelledshop.myspreadshop.net/ Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/6JYqGa_-UZE

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