Customer Reviews

Junk English

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Ken Smith, in the new critique of sloppy language _Junk English_ (Blast Books), continues an attack that has lasted over a hundred years on a pet peeve of mine, the misuse of the word "unique": "_Unique_, a word that means one of a kind, is freely bandied about by advertising copywriters and others who wish to sell with a certain high status. That so few things really are unique is precisely what gives the word its power. _Unique_'s veracity has been shaved away by phrases such as _practically unique_, _virtually unique_, _somewhat unique_, _most unique_, and so on, which truthfully mean _not_ unique. This is not to say that the products or positions or people being touted are not notable, special, exceptional, fabulous, marvelous, worthy, or rare, but it is highly unlikely that they are in fact unique."

This is not a grammar book, but one which looks at current shoddy word use as a human foible: "It is sometimes innocent, sometimes lazy, sometimes well intended, but most often it is a trick we play on ourselves to make the unremarkable seem important... Junk English is the linguistic equivalent of junk food - ingest it long enough and your brain goes soft." Smith's book is a compilation of examples which he has spotted in print or broadcast, and he has obviously a good ear and eye for them; Smith admits that he uses such phrases, just as everyone does, and reading this book is an exercise in humility, for sometimes only after Smith points out a common usage does it seem junk. For instance, under the section "People Reduction," Smith points out that "people" and "person" are disappearing from usage, replaced by "individual" or "individuals." Even worse, we have become not people, but consumers: "The nearly inescapable _consumers_ has become a cold synonym for many more accurate and human terms. We are gradually being turned into creatures whose only defining characteristic is that we shop: 'Consumers should check their medicine cabinet once a year for medications that are expired or are no longer being used.'" In a section on "Free-for-all-verbs", doesn't point out that for years some people have "gifted" presents to others, but his examples go from the almost acceptable "The parents took it upon themselves to see to it that all the kids were journaling every day" to the completely horrid "We're efforting to work this out." A relatively new verb "privatize" means to make a previously governmental function into a business to make money. Everyone likes privacy, and everyone likes smaller government, so there has been a popular push to privatize, but would you not think twice before sending your child to a school run as a business to make money? It is one of the many examples of Orwellian Newspeak in the book; it would be more honest, Smith shows, to create the word "profitize."

It's a darned shame that _Junk English_ is not going to be read by those copywriters and speechwriters who are the perpetrators of so many of the abuses catalogued herein. It seems as if pomposity will always trump plainness. Nonetheless, the book is instructive, and it will put those of us who care about words on our guard. It is a deliberately short book, and so some of the atrocities that are your own pet peeves are likely to be omitted. As a picture of how we are using and misusing English at the turn of the millennium, and as an entertaining and funny look at language in need of correction, Smith's book is unique. But not very.

This book is a fascinating and hilarious and at the same time somewhat melancholy examination of where our language is heading and what our culture has done to it. The "militant grammarians" among us, who daily bemoan the casual butchering of linguistic precision, will gasp with wonder and relief that we are not the only ones who notice these barbarities.

Our second reaction, however, is to realize that though we may think we know our language well (and we probably do, compared to our peers), we don't know it nearly as well as we should, or as well as Ken Smith does. We'll see examples in this book of lexical misdeeds that we ourselves commit on a regular basis, and we'll fret, "How can I continue to call myself a stickler for grammar when my perspicacity is not perfect and complete?"

The third reaction, I think, is depression. Smith is certainly right about Junk English, its origins and its consequences. But who cares? Aside from those of us who pay attention (and we're a precious tiny little minority), accuracy in written and spoken English is declasse. I often feel that advertising, PR propaganda, political reportage, and corporate communications are written largely by morons for other morons, so everyone's satisfied. What is to be done? Smith isn't trying to provide a solution to our language's ills, but his focusing on the problem does raise the question.

My mild criticism of the book consists in Smith's apparent lack of patience with whimsy, colloquialism, and artistic embellishment. Sometimes, when we neglect to use the most economical or efficient word, we do so on purpose -- to use the "au courant" argot of a specific constituency, to dress up a sentence for the simple love of language, or just for fun. Junk English seems to be more about using words and phrases without a thorough understanding of their meaning or implication -- but this book occasionally steps beyond this into written inefficiency.

Writers who are concerned about getting caught themselves in the morass of Junk English, however, should keep a copy of this book around. After you finish a draft, flip through its pages and see if anything you've done is named there.

Excellent. Strunk & White on steroids. And a lot easier to reference than Strunk & White. The alphabetical system makes a lot more sense. Required reading.

Junk English is, perhaps, Ken Smith's greatest work to date. Junk English is an interesting and humorous take on the current state of the written English language but more than that it is a reference book that can make you a better writer. Before reading Junk English I was certain that all books that could make a person a better writer had to be dull and lifeless. Junk English shatters that myth in grand style thanks to Ken Smith's wit and writing style. This book will take it's proper place in my library next to my other English reference books but, more than that, it will remain the ONLY book about the English language that was fun to read.

The author's intention is sound: to rid the world of junk (imprecise) English. The need for this is obvious - even the best writers fall prey to redundant or misused words.

The organization of the book doesn't support such a grand ambition, though. A dictionary format would seem to be a good way to remedy the problem, but the author slips between types of mistakes and specific words. In doing this, the book becomes hard to follow, and lacks a core theory or concept to follow. Instead, it turns into a list of "Don't do this..."

While I applaud the author's intention, and am a better writer (I hope!) for having read this book, I would have appreciated better delivery. This is not in the league of "Elements of Style".

The thing I like most about this book - apart from it being a fantastic resource - is its tone. In Junk English, Ken Smith takes all the things you secretly dislike and slams them - but with the subtlety of a truly insightful, and obviously talented, writer.

I think if this book had "profundized" any further, it would no longer suit its intended audience, as Mr. Smith states so himself in his opening message: "This book is a broad overview of an encyclopedic subject. Much had to be pared away... My intent was to keep this book small and handy so that it would be useful to a spectrum of people, for Junk English will not go away until all of us recognize it."

The experts in psychology and semiotics have far less of a need for this book than the person trying to decode the text on their credit card bill.

A very necessary book!

Smith makes many valid points in this book, detailing many ways in which the language is commonly abused. He doesn't have nearly the sense of humor about the subject as I'd expected, however, and there are a few cases in which I think he disdains a perfectly legitimate usage.

I was a little disappointed by this book since I'm a great fan of Ken Smith. All of his previous books were written on other interesting topics and resulted in some really fun and informative reads (Mental Hygiene, Raw Deal, Roadside America). Junk English succeeds, somewhat, at the informing part. There's a lot of insight into how English is being destroyed . I imagine Ken watching television and obsessively scribbling down his examples. But the book suffers from bad organization. It goes in a mindless alphabetical order, by both offending words and topics. It would help a lot if it went topic by topic. And the entertaining part is almost nonexistant. Sentences pop up here and there giving a glimpse of the fun writer Smith can be, but mostly it does read like a dictionary.

An adventitious and clear minded romp through the landscape of modern English.

`Junk English' is the perfect way to describe the cluttering of the English language, like with junk food it is possible to pile on more and more of these say-nothing words while adding no more meaning to a sentence than a Twinkie would add nourishment to a meal.

In addition to a sharp eye one of the aspects of this book which makes it so great is Smith's excellent use of examples to illustrate every point, truly makes all the concepts of the book easy to grasp.

While I applaud Ken Smith for this book I will point out that he is occasionally too harsh in his criticism - wouldn't recommend Junk English as a zero tolerance guide but the more aware of such linguist fluff we are the more we can cut back on it and in turn the more meaning out remaining words gain.

Although Smith doesn't offer the same sorts of insight that linguist Geoffrey Nunberg does in his book this was an informative and enjoyable read - will be reading the sequel before too long I am sure!

As a professional writer, I enjoy discussions about language and the (often comical) pitfalls that exist for those who unintentionally misuse language. That, combined with the back cover quote that termed the book "lively" and "funny," led me to believe that I would be enlightened and entertained by reading "Junk English." Unfortunately, I found the book to be not particularly illuminating and virtually devoid of any entertainment value. The author repeatedly ridicules the type of writing that most of us would consider minor deviations from technically perfect sentences, and he seems to consider all creative embellishment or literary license as a sort of taboo that should be excised from even conversational English. In short, this is the kind of intellectual nitpicking that I believe would appeal only to the pedagogue who delights in correcting a child's misuse of the word "can" where he should have used the word "may." It is not a book that offers any guidelines to enrich our use of the English language. Instead, if we were to follow the advice of "Junk English" and stick to the type of bland, stripped-down sentences the author lauds for the technical accuracy of their syntax and word choice, the language of Shakespeare would be dull indeed.