English Dictionaries & Thesauri - Idioms & Slang

Junk English 2

Name: Junk English 2
Author: Ken Smith
ISBN: 9780922233274

by Ken Smith

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Overview

Updating his survey of language atrocities, Ken Smith has again subjected himself to the continuing barrage of mindless jargon, hackneyed expressions, and war euphemisms. With hundreds of new examples pulled from everyday life, Junk English 2 shows how our language has become so pliable and flabby that the more we read and hear, the less we know.

Synopsis

Junk English 2 combines basic advice — peppered with contemporary examples of alarmingly common verbal atrocities — with entertaining invective. Based on the author's uncounted hours of exposure to infomercials, ads, and other dubious cultural forms, the book covers topics like "parasitic intensifiers," "-ize verbs," and the dreaded "weasel words." "Useless cabooses" — as well as frequently abused words like "focus," "factor," and "process" — are examined and put in their proper place, as are the seemingly unstoppable impulses toward vagueness and euphemisms. Written so that the ordinary writer and speaker of English can readily see the manipulations of language, especially in the post-9/11 era, Junk English 2 is useful as a quick reference, a source for further exploration, and a fun read. The book is arranged alphabetically, like a dictionary, providing a compendium of frequently abused words and suggested alternates.

Publishers Weekly

If George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" were updated and expanded to address today's lexical and syntactic problems the tendency to make verbs out of nouns and nouns out of verbs, a general fondness for business-speak and verbal inflation, just to name a few it might look like Junk English. Ken Smith's (Mental Hygiene; Ken's Guide to the Bible) slim volume is a quirky, pleasingly judgmental dictionary of language crimes. From "invisible diminishers" ("virtually flawless") to technology jargon ("It is simply not natural to use feedback for opinion, [or] synthesis for combination"), Smith will delight language purists with his wit while confirming their grave assessments of contemporary speech. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

As Smith (Mental Hygiene) here argues, our language has become pliable and flabby, filled with sloppy grammar, pretentious phrases, and, above all, loudness. "Junk English" is most often a trick we play on ourselves to make the unremarkable seem important. The result is "Edmund Burke's tyranny of the multitude merged with George Orwell's Newspeak, a world of humbug in which the more we read and hear, the less we know." This point is well made in an abundance of succinct examples, alphabetically arranged, which reveal the misuse of words, the overemphasis on euphemisms, the "verbalizing of perfectly good nouns," and other grammatical errors. Smith readily admits that what results is his own judgmental collection of observations, not a text of grammar or style. The errors are blatant and familiar, representing Smith's heightened sensitivity to poor English as found in newspapers and magazines, radio and TV, advertisements and editorials, as well as everyday life. Compact in size, reasonably priced, and nicely updating Richard P. Lederer's Fractured English (Pocket, 1996), this is highly recommended for all libraries and could be considered essential reading in English classes. Dale Farris, Groves, TX Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Forbes FYI

An admirably cranky little book...refreshingly judgmental...will make you laugh, and you'll never use effort as a verb again.

Library Journal

As Smith here argues, our language has become pliable and flappy, filled with sloppy grammar, pretentious phrases, and, above all, loudness. Junk English is most often a trick we play on ourselves to make the unremarkable seem important. The result is "Edmund Burke's tyranny of the multitude merged with George Orwell's Newspeak, a world of humbug in which the more we read and hear, the less we know." This point is well made in an abundance of succinct examples, alphabetically arranged, which reveal the misuse of words, the overemphasis on euphemisms, the "verbalizing of perfectly good nouns," and other grammatical errors. Smith readily admits that what results is his own judgmental collection of observations, not a text of grammar or style. The errors are blatant and familiar, representing Smith's heightened sensitivity to poor English as found in newspapers and magazines, radio and TV, advertisements and editorials, as well as everyday life. Compact in size, reasonably priced, and nicely updating Richard P. Lederer's Fractured English (Pocket, 1996), this is highly recommended for all libraries and could be considered essential reading in English classes.

Minneapolis Star & Tribune

Small and streamlined, almost a thesaurus of sloppy usage...deserves a place on the desk of any writer or editor.

NYPress

A new Strunk & White...written in such a humorous, nonthreatening way that it might actually be of some use.

Publisher's Weekly

If George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" were updated and expanded to address today's lexical and syntactic problems -- the tendency to make verbs out of nouns and nouns out of verbs, a general fondness for business-speak and verbal inflation, just to name a few -- it might look like Junk English. Ken Smith's slim volume is a quirky, pleasingly judgmental dictionary of language crimes. From "invisible diminishers" ("virtually flawless") to technology jargon ("It is simply not natural to use feedback for opinion, [or] synthesis for combination"), Smith will delight language purists with his wit while confirming their grave assessments of contemporary speech.