Customer Reviews

The Way We Talk Now

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This collection of short, pithy pieces from linguist Geoffrey Nunberg's public radio broadcasts on "Fresh Air" explore a broad range of topics, from country music to the French Revolution, from teen speak through the ages to the euphemisms of all the 'isms. But mostly he explores the evolution of popular culture as revealed in the way we use words.

Humorous, witty and engaging, Nunberg's breezy pieces show a remarkable depth of research and thoughtfulness in posing such questions as why movies have given us so many memorable phrases and television so few, and how we choose names for our children. He number crunches all the words at the Republican convention into five sentences, explores the history and longevity of slang, the emotional power of words, the evolution of meanings.

Insightful and enjoyable, these soundbites help us see how language reflects us, as we are and as we prefer to see ourselves.

Language is how we interact and bring meaning to the world-all those things which we value we also name. This is what makes Geoffrey Nunberg's work as a linguistics professor at Stanford so interesting and it is just that fascinating field of study which he shares with us in this book. I was first introduced to Nunberg through his work on NRP's Fresh Air and this book's short essay format nicely parallel's the commentaries that he has produced there.

Casting a wide net Nunberg looks at a wide range of subjects in this book, from political speech to language of business. He not only is a keen observer of how these areas of speech are changing but also is able to penetrate to what those changes really mean about our society all with an intelligent wit.

While in the end I think I still prefer his expertly delivered NRP pieces they always leave me wanting more-and his written work is just that!

I've long been a fan of Geoff Nunberg's pieces on NPR's "Fresh Air," and even so was surprised at how delightful it was to sit down and read them, collected, in order of appearance. Each piece feels as fresh as the day it aired. I have friends who have for years gotten Nunberg's pieces off the net to read aloud at their monthly dinners--this collection is a gold mine for them. Fun, challenging, stimulating stuff. Hugely recommended.

_The Way We Talk Now_ is one of those rare masterpieces that appeals to both the scholar and the layman. In this compilation of radio essays on a variety of subjects, Geoffrey Nunberg looks at the American culture and its institutions - and the way we verbalize in regard to, and as a result of, them - with an eye that is as incisive as it is witty.

Indeed, for a linguist of such repute, Nunberg is engaging and warm, and his essays are as enthralling as they are enlightening. In fact, for those individuals who have always seen the study of linguistics as a highly specialized field of study appreciated only by intellectuals who are as boring as their reading, this will be an enormously pleasant shock.

More than a collection of entertaining essays, however, the value of The Way We Talk Now lies in Nunberg's constant and unrelenting prodding and encouragement of the reader to look at himself within our cultural and institutional contexts - via the medium of verbal self-expression. Whether discussing the flap over inner city dialects being taught in school, the moral and aesthetic qualities imparted to the English language by purists, the camaraderie of radio call-in talk shows, or the evolving perception of cults within our society, Nunberg relentlessly brings the reader to examine his own communication. Invariably, the realizations that accompany this self-analysis - both voluntary and involuntary - are as enlightening as they are surprising.

Profound without being incomprehensible, simple without being shallow, packing its weight in engaging scholarly content, and a springboard for continued self-analysis and more effective self-expression, this jewel of humor and insight is both a credit to Nunberg's skill and a welcome breath of fresh air. Above all, this is a book to be read as much for learning as for enjoyment.

- Benjamin Gene Gardner

I could have read this book in one sitting but had to pace myself so that I would still have some of it to read. Geoff Nunberg is a masterful user of the English language. His knowledge is vast; his references include corporations, television, movies, sports, teenagers, history, psychology, myths, and literature. He throws in words and phrases in French, German, Yiddish, Latin, and Italian as naturally as he speaks English. This book will have a place on my shelf along with those by Richard Lederer, William Safire, Edwin Newman, and John Ciardi.

Language lovers of all kinds will enjoy Nunberg's wit and insight. I thoroughly enjoyed his observations, etymologies, analogies, and often humorous commentary of modern English usage. Linguists are, by necessity, sticklers -- yet Nunberg refuses to give credence to arbitrary rules and is more than willing to accommodate the inevitable shifts in our language. He even defended the use of one of my favorite expressions: "Whatever!" According to Nunberg, it "signals your sublime indifference to whatever your interlocutor is trying to say to you." And yet I couldn't agree more when he chafes at trendy corporate communication -- everything from "thought leadership" to PowerPoint. It's all great fun. This is one book I won't be passing on to others. I'll be enjoying it myself for years to come.

I can think of few people who would not benefit from a short marination --or a long one-- in this book. It is because most of my friends are talker and thinkers, and this book is so wide ranging that it is bound to benefit those who take pride in, or pay attention to, what they utter. Marinade: "a savory usu. acidic sauce in which meat, fish or a vegetable is soaked to enrich its flavor or to tenderize it." Acidic, even acerbic, characterizes the book; and acid often sharpens our thoughts. For example, most of us laughed at (and decried) the actions of the mayor of Washington, Anthony Williams, when he fired a white aid who had characterized the city's budget as being "niggardly." We laughed at the sheer ignorance of those who would take issue with a racially neutral word that simply means "stingy." We looked up the etymology of the word and found that it has Swedish ancestry and nothing to do with the "n" word, or the Niger river, or the color black. But wait: surely the word contains offensive sounds to which black Americans are entitled to react. The book calls these sounds "echoes of its homonyms," a felicitous expression; and then the rule: Phonetics always trumps etymology. Whose rule? Nunberg's, of course, who adds: "We all learned that when we were six as we discovered the scatological pleasure there would be in pronouncing an innocent word like "shampoo."

Quickly, without looking it up: the difference between "masterly" and "masterful." Quickly, without looking it up, clarify the usage of "on behalf of" and "in behalf of." Parlor games or lexicography? This is a book rich in more ways than I can count. It makes you think, and perhaps makes you think before you talk. Such a blessing! And if not for you, it will please one of your talkative buddies, for sure.

THE WAY WE TALK NOW is a collection of commentaries linguist Geoffrey Nunberg contributed to NPR's "Fresh Air" show from 1989 to 2000. The topic is language, how we use it and sometimes abuse it, and each essay, written to be read aloud under 5 minutes, contains wit, information and opinion. In his preface, he seems rather apologetic explaining that the flow of prose is tailored to how we listen rather than how we read, but on the page it is quite fluent, warm as a human voice and possessed of a visual rhythm.

The collection is divided into thematic sections: topical influences, word histories, political input, reading/writing, the language of business and technology. Within each category, the essays are arranged in the chronological order in which they aired, which works though occasionally there is a dizzy feeling, going from Y2K and the 2000 election at the end of one section and then starting back with the administration of George Herbert Bush in the next. As he zig zags back and forth across the last decade of the last century, his overall commentary emerges as a valuable zeitgeist index of the times, catching our language in a manifest destiny mode as the internet moved in with the ammunition we never saw coming. As such, his information is not so much dated but historically connected to a specific point in the past that has been swept over by what has transpired since late January of 2001.

I really like Nunberg's voice and ideas. It is obvious that he loves what he does. It is amusing to see which words, however annoyingly introduced, have stuck and which rather quickly fell by the wayside. He ends the book with a very witty poem, written on the eve of 2000 invoking the language that grew out of the late 20th century, sometimes in the hope it would not cross the threshold into the next millennium.

I hadn't previously read any of Nunberg's works.
His style is that of a friend reflecting with you over a late night armagnac.

The book is diverse, very interesting and many times thought-provoking

Much recommended.

Hey,
yes a 12 and a half year old read this book. Why might u ask? No I do not reguarly listen to NPR radio to hear Mr. Nunberg speak. But let's say a close member of his family connected me with his...information. I had othing better to read so I dove right in. Some parts I admit were complicated but this book can actually hit some teenagers little experiances of childern his daughter(Sophie) and just slang terms can find many points of this book good. He writes about everything starting with "The Choice of Sophie" talking about choosing names ect..this is a good book. yeah I recomend it for adults but if yr a kid and wanna try something REALLY NEW knock yrself out.