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 enlarge | Author: Paul Yeager
Publisher: Perigee Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $7.64
You Save: $6.31 (45%)
New (28) from $7.64
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 95200
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 0399534237
Dewey Decimal Number: 428
EAN: 9780399534232
ASIN: 0399534237
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 Petty And Just Plain Wrong June 24, 2008
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
Wow, was I surprised to see that my report will be in the minority here. I thought more people would leave this book with the same impression I did. I was hanging around at a Barnes and Noble and picked this book up. I enjoyed the first two entries I read, so bought the book for reading in my...ahem, boudoir -- I enjoy books with short sections that can occupy my brief time therein.
The author promises to point out trite and hackneyed abuses of the language, but what I found was a simpleton's guide to expressions that had grown old and repetitive to him. Why would I call the author a simpleton? Because he is just plain wrong on over half of the expressions that he criticizes. He makes fun of some items correctly, such as abuses of "literally" and "unique", or some overworked catchphrases like "Where's the beef?", but then loses it.
Many of the expressions he abhors are actually rich in history, and represent an admirable nod to tradition, human experience, etymology, and different eras. For example, he hates, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch." and says it's silly for modern, urbanized people to be talking about chickens. Really? The "chickens" are from Aesop's Fable 'The Milk Maid' and date back to 600 BC. An old reference, for sure, but I think the expression has proven itself to have some staying power. For this writer to come along and say we should abandon classic references to such seminal works as Aesop's Fables, just because he's bored of hearing it, is just him griping - and demonstrating an ignorance of literature, history, and etymology. How can one write a book on language with that handicap?
Many others of his gripes fall into the "you don't own chickens, so find a better way to express yourself" formula. His is a sad, robotic interpretation of language. Do we really have to own chickens to talk about them, or would the world be more colorful if we allow (or rather encourage) people to talk with allegory, metaphor, and parable?
He lambastes several business expressions, and is right about a few of them. But most of them have very specific meanings, and the words were invented for a reason - to fill a hole that language didn't cover. A lot of words that he would banish are actually very useful so long as they are used correctly. "Downsized" and "Synergy" are two business words the author hates, but I'll stand to defend. When a person loses a job because a company "downsized" what it means is, yes they were fired, but through no fault of their own. That is a very different meaning than "fired" which the author says is more to the point. "Synergies", meanwhile, is certainly used too often, but nevertheless does fit on occasion: getting your chocolate in my peanut butter comes to mind. I don't agree with the author that we should banish the words.
Other expressions he dislikes are actually very useful shorthand that people can use to effectively communicate with one another. Is the expression "it'll be like finding a needle in a haystack" really so terrible, or is it actually more colorful and quicker to the point than saying "it will be extremely hard to find, because we are looking for something very small in a very big area of possible locations"? The author says the latter is preferable, because it uses plain English instead of a tired, overworked idiom. I say the former is better because it is 'language shorthand'.
Basically, the book was probably based on a few good entries, then the author had to fill up another hundred pages, and just grabbed whatever expressions he could think of, and criticized them. It looks to me like good expressions are thrown in with bad. Just to annoy the author, let me say that he has "thrown the baby out with the bathwater".
 Simple, funny and informative June 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love language and hate to hear college educated people say something such as "Where is John at" so this book confirmed some things for me and taught me other things.
 Literally the Best Language Book Ever June 9, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book was exactly what I wanted it to be. I thought that I was the only one who was annoyed by words and phrases that did not make sense.
It was easy reading, and it even alerted me to some ways to rephrase my thoughts to make them more clear to my listener.
I'm glad that I made this purchase. The book was in exactly the condition as it was advertised.
literally, the best review of this book ever June 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed the author's snarky take on the words and phrases that make me cringe when I hear them (when I'm not accidentally using them myself). This is the kind of book that had me saying "just one more entry... just one more entry..." as I was reading it in bed. You'll realize just how often you and the people around you resort to the hackneyed and the trite without knowing it.
I have my fingers crossed that a few of my coworkers will stumble across this book, which will hopefully result a few less oft-abused phrases being tossed around the office...
Funny and Smart May 26, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I saw the table of contents for this book on [...] (the author's site), which was quite helpful because it gave me a better idea of what to expect. The author's writing style is clever and to the point, sometimes irreverent, and insightful and easy to read.
I was surprised to see a reviewer say that it's great for students and catch-phrase-prone people but that there's not much more here than a "smug bit of fun" for those of us who already know more. I think this book is for anyone who's interested in the English language, wants to improve skills, or wants to commiserate about the sorry state of our cliche-stuffed conversations.
How many times do we hear people say `me and my brother went to the store' instead of the grammatically correct `my brother and I went' or hear our boss say the sneaky "why don't you go ahead and..." rather than make a direct request or hear someone use "literally" when giving a figurative example. If making conscious word choices is being a grammar or language snob, then you may gleefully count me in.
This is not a book on how to diagram sentences or construct a paragraph. This is a book that targets specific grammar and language errors and humorously explains why they're either wrong or, when they're not technically wrong, why they're inappropriate or overused.
I have added it to my collection of language favorites!
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