Doublespeak Defined: Cut Through the Bull**** and Get the Point! [Paperback]

William D. Lutz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1999

In an increasingly Orwellian world, everyone should be armed with this hilarious, slyly subversive deconstruction of the slippery locutions of spinmeisters from all walks of public life. Doublespeak guru William Lutz (Doublespeak, The New Doublespeak) is uniquely qualified to bring you this supremely funny expos‚ of the juiciest ways THEY are trying to bamboozle you!

A sampling of Doublespeak Defined:

Bald n./ :hair disadvantaged
Men in Japan aren't bald; they're "hair disadvantaged," according to The Japan Economic Journal.

Diet n./ :1.nutrional avoidance therapy 2. caloric reduction program

Frozen adj./ :1 deep chilled 2. fresh 3. hard chilled 4. previously frozen

The USDA considers processed chickens "fresh," not frozen, if they have been chilled to 28 degrees Fahrenheit. Chickens so processed have not been frozen but "deep chilled."

Light Switch n./ :ideogram illumination intensity adjustment potentiometer

Waste paper basket n./ :user-friendly, space-effective, flexible desk side sortation unit

Government officials in Toronto, Canada, paid $123.80 (Canadian) each for these items.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

For years Lutz has waged a battle against "doublespeak," the use of convoluted, evasive, deceptive, misleading, and deliberately ambiguous language. However, any look at the front page of a newspaper or, better yet, at the Federal Register will suggest that Lutz's cause might be a lost one. He is already the author of two books on the topic, and he edited the National Council of Teachers of English Quarterly Review of Doublespeak for 14 years. This year he was contracted by the Securities and Exchange Commission to write instructions on writing stock prospectuses in "plain" English. The resulting booklet is 58 pages. Doublespeak Defined, though, is essentially a thesaurus. Under 14 categories, such as education, the workplace, job titles, and sex and sexes, Lutz lists terms and their doublespeak counterparts. Included are sidebar press reports documenting doublespeak's pervasive reach, and cartoons lampooning its effects. Some examples are amusing and some are silly. Many, though, raise real concerns about the potential dangers of irresponsible and misleading language. David Rouse

Review

"Bill Lutz is the 1990s' George Orwell." -- -- Larry King

"Lutz may become the Ralph Nader of public talk as he warns about what may be unsafe at any read." -- -- Kirkus Review

"Bill Lutz is the 1990s' George Orwell." -- Larry King

"Lutz may become the Ralph Nader of public talk as he warns about what may be unsafe at any read." -- Kirkus Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Collins; 1st edition (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062734121
• ISBN-13: 978-0062734129
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,069,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beware doublespeak III, March 20, 2001

By 

Peter J. Silzer "AKA Dr. Language" (Monterey, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doublespeak Defined: Cut Through the Bull**** and Get the Point! (Paperback)

William Lutz is out to save us from the doublespeak ogres. In this his third book on the subject Lutz provides hundreds of obtuse and difficult examples of contorted language from a variety of fields. The primary offenders, of course, are big government and big industry. Lutz assures the reader that his book is a "survival manual for the contemporary linguistic jungle." Without his help we might succumb to the confusing "substance abuse" and "passanger facility charges" of this brave new world.

Taken with an appropriate grain of salt, the book makes delightful reading for all of us normal, honest, truthful folk who must beware the doublespeak ogres all around us.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good job!, July 27, 2005

By 

William Blankfield Jr. (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doublespeak Defined: Cut Through the Bull**** and Get the Point! (Paperback)

Lutz' "Doublespeak Redefined" is even better that his original "Doublespeak". The approximately 18 years between them has provided ample time for business and government people to forget plain Emglish and resort to all manner of euphemisms to obfuscate what they really mean.

Lutz is to be commended for taking perpetrators who are ruining our language to task in a reasonably controlled way. I don't believe I could have!

"Doublespeak Redefined" ought to be mandatory reading for high school juniors and seniors as well as collegians who hope to make their way in business, education, government, communica tions and related disciplines. It would be beneficial for all old college grads and equivalents to peruse it on occasion so they don't fall into the euphemism abyss.