Talking About People: A Guide to Fair and Accurate Language [Paperback]

Rosalie Maggio (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1573560693 | ISBN-13: 978-1573560696 | Publication Date: October 9, 1997 | Edition: 3rd

Anyone who works with words and people will want to keep this indispensable guide close at hand. In her highly entertaining style, best-selling author Rosalie Maggio offers thousands of alternatives for outdated, stereotypical, and damaging language. This substantially updated and expanded version of Maggio's earlier work, The Dictionary of Bias-Free Usage, also covers numerous words and phrases that were not even part of our language five years ago. This handy reference guide merits a place next to the dictionary and thesaurus of all who are sensitive to the use of fair and accurate language. It will help them make an informed judgment when choosing words to describe people in terms of their age, sex, employment, economic status, religion, lifestyle, ethnic background, or disability.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Maggio (The Nonsexist Word Finder: A Dictionary of Gender-Free Usage, Oryx, 1987) has written about "people language" for more than ten years. Her new book consists of two sections: "Writing Guidelines" and a "Dictionary of Terms." The short first section gives the writer or editor a rationale for inclusive and bias-free language, providing rules of thumb and suggestions for handling problems such as letter salutations, adjectival forms as nouns, the "insider/outsider" rule, sex-linked expressions, and the like. The "Dictionary of Terms" consists of some 8000 words and phrases that may be perceived as problematic. Each term is briefly explained, sometimes with illustrative quotations, and in many cases alternatives to the entry word are listed. Throughout, Maggio argues that verifying fair and accurate "people language" should be as commonplace as checking spelling, grammar, and usage. This book is the most recent and useful of a short shelf of specialized reference works, e.g., Casey Miller's The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing for Writers, Editors, and Speakers (HarperCollins, 1988), Val Dumond's The Elements of Nonsexist Language (Prentice Hall, 1990), and Maggio's earlier works, that have appeared in the last ten years to fill the need for guidance in bias-free language not supplied in existing dictionaries and style manuals. Another good source is Jenny R. Redfern's Writing with Gender Fair Language website . Recommended for all libraries lacking a source on bias-free language.?Paul D'Alessandro, Portland P.L., Me.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This dictionary of "people language--how we characterize the various ways that you are you and I am I," provides information about the use of 8,000 terms; enough information is provided to allow readers to make their own informed judgments. Definitions also provide statistics to situate a term in time and space, as well as illustrative quotes and alternatives. The introduction provides writing guidelines that illustrate types of discriminatory language (sexist, gender-specific), ways to avoid discriminatory language (for example, avoiding the pronoun he; avoiding use of the suffix man); special problems, and common objections to using bias-free language.

This title updates Maggio's previous books, The Dictionary of Bias-Free Usage (1991) and The Nonsexist Word Finder (1987), also published by Oryx. It adds to the 1991 lexicon with approximately 3,000 new main entries. Also new to this title is a bibliography of 38 information sources about the theory, principles, and research on fair and accurate use of language. Some of the new terms include abominable snowman (yeti is the preferred term), Jack Robinson, before you can say (this is an example of the many expressions in English that are male-based), and Siamese twins (preferred term is conjoined twins).

The Board recently reviewed a similar title, Phil Herbst's Color of Words [RBB O 15 97]. Although the two books have some entries in common, Herbst concentrates on racial and ethnic bias in language, while Maggio thoroughly covers sex and gender bias. Herbst is more descriptive, Maggio prescriptive, and Herbst provides more social and historical detail for the entries. As one of the handful of dictionaries dealing exclusively with fair and accurate language, Talking about People is worth the extra space on academic, public, and high-school library shelves. Librarians may wish to place Maggio's previous books in the circulating collection.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood; 3rd edition (October 9, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573560693
• ISBN-13: 978-1573560696
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,479,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone should own this book!, March 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Talking About People: A Guide to Fair and Accurate Language (Paperback)

First impressions are everything in my business, and that's why I gave everyone on my staff a dictionary for Christmas last year. Spelling counts. And so does inclusive language. What do you do when the "Chairman of the Board" is a woman? It's a real pain to come up with inclusive alternatives, and up until now, I could never be sure that my solutions were right. Thankfully, this book is a breeze to use, and it doesn't hit you over the head with a bunch of politics. Just lots of precise, useful alternatives. This Christmas I'm giving everyone on my staff "Talking About People." If you're serious about making the right impression, you should buy this book!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Language is Powerful, April 11, 2007

By 

Joann Martin "Jo Ann Martin" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Talking About People: A Guide to Fair and Accurate Language (Paperback)

As a communication instructor at a community college, I've used Maggio's Talking about People for years. It helps students of all ages realize not only that phrases and terms such as "rule of thumb," "jew down," and "lady" can be and often are used in offensive ways but also why. The historical background Maggio supplies for most of this dictionary's entries is thorough without being long-winded or boring. A student once asked me, "What--do you want us to think about EVERYTHING we say?" My answer, "Yes!" Because words are powerful.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of its kind, December 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Talking About People: A Guide to Fair and Accurate Language (Paperback)

I've searched for years for a book that was this thorough. Maggio has done her homework, so you don't have to do yours. Instead of referencing half a dozen books and the internet and the encyclopedia, I just grab Talking About People. Also, the book supplies serious information without being preachy.