Going Nucular
by Geoffrey Nunberg
Book Read on 8 / 11 / 2004
This is a book about how English reflects our culture and our changing values. The coolest part was about how we use English to say things that we don't want to say. For example, Caucasian actually means "White". The strictest definition would be that Caucasian is pidgin for European Americans. African American doesnít really mean African American either, it means black. But I added that.
A couple of other examples: polysyndeton ìand this and that and this and that Ö.î
ìI recall what a friend told me about having to compose a vision statement for his job: ìIt isnít enough that I give them my body ñ now they want me to kiss them on the mouth.î
ìWhen you buy a ten-speed, the class war comes to you.î
ìIn the end though, the real victims of this sort of talk arenít the cynical employees that shine it on, but the trusting oneís who buy into the story and load up their 401kís with the companyís stock. And when the Death Star explodes the Force is nowhere to be foundî
Words to look up: panegyric, apparatchik, portmanteau word, fatuity, risible, parvenus
Dvandva = ìliberal-leftistî ìtoaster-ovenî
ìTo see what is in front of oneís nose needs a constant struggle.î George Orwell I should read Politics and the English Language
True Orwellian words are more subtle and dangerous than expected ones, examples of real ones are ìjobs and growthî, ìfamily valuesî, ìcolor-blindî, ìlifeî and ìchoiceî.
Another interesting article was the one about Bushís use of ìcrusadeî and how that translates in Arabic to al-hamalat as-salibiyya, or ìcampaign of the crossî. The word he really wanted to use was jihad for a proper translation.
Bullfighter ñ a jargon checker that plugs into Word and PowerPoint to look for bullshit. (from deloitte)
HL Mencken
Tired words: ìbest of breedî, ìsynergiesî, ìlow hanging fruitî, ìcoopetitionî, ìmission-criticalî, ìproactiveî
Solution vs. problem.
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. James F. More, shared global mind as second super power or world public opinion?
Geekspeak: kluge, munge, scrog
Retronym: something expressing a term that didnít need to be spoken previously in time, ìmainland Chinaî, ìnatural turfî, ìsurface mailî.
Raymond Williams: ìWe have never as a society acted so much or watched so many others acting.î
In fact the average person hears more drama in any given week than an Elizabethan would have seen in an entire lifetime
Death to adverbs: Graham Greene once said if he opened a novel and someone answered tenderly, he closed it immediately.
Lily-gilders are: significantly and aggressively. Rain check: arguably. Quite possibly: It manages to be unctuous, grandiose, and suspicious at the same time, like a snooty butler who has been pocketing the silver.
Photographs of Fransi Glaten (cousin of Darwin)
Vitiated.
Movei: Spellbound
Reviewer: William Koplitz
5 out of 5