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Literally, the Best Language Book Ever: Annoying Words and Abused Phrases You Should Never Use Again | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Yeager
Publisher: Perigee Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $7.89
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 33993
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 0399534237
Dewey Decimal Number: 428
EAN: 9780399534232
ASIN: 0399534237
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
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Product Description
A wry and engaging look at trite, trendy, grammatically incorrect, inane, outdated, and lazy uses of words, phrases, and expressions.
By turns gleefully precise and happily contrarian, this is a highly opinionated guide to better communication. In Literally, the Best Language Book Ever, author Paul Yeager attacks with a linguistic scalpel the illogical expressions and misappropriated meanings that are so commonplace and annoying in everyday conversation. Identifying hundreds of common language miscues, Yeager provides an astute look at the world of words and how we abuse them every day.
For the grammar snobs looking for any port in a storm of subpar syntax, or the self-confessed rubes seeking a helping hand, this witty guide can transform even the least literate into the epitome of eloquence.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Literally, the Best Language Book Ever: July 5, 2008
I had hoped this writer would approach the topic with some humor...alas, not one smile evident. Instead, he seems permanently annoyed. And he delivers his boring lecture from a podium high up in the sky where he can look down on the mere peons who ignorantly abuse his language. I bought it as a gift for a writer friend, but changed my mind after skimming through it.
Save your money June 26, 2008
To be fair, I must say that the book is not entirely without good material, but what there is, is insufficient to warrant a recommendation. When the author is wrong about a word or phrase, he is spectacularly so. From time to time he appears to believe that an expression is illogical simply because HE does not understand it. While I occasionally found myself nodding in agreement over some entries, I had to restrain myself from throwing the book against the wall after reading others.
Not recommended.
disappointing June 26, 2008
This book turned out to both dull reading and unrealistic in its approach to language today. Save your money.
Petty And Just Plain Wrong June 24, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Wow, was I surprised to see that my report will be in the minority here. I thought more people would leave this book with the same impression I did. I was hanging around at a Barnes and Noble and picked this book up. I enjoyed the first two entries I read, so bought the book for reading in my...ahem, boudoir -- I enjoy books with short sections that can occupy my brief time therein.
The author promises to point out trite and hackneyed abuses of the language, but what I found was a simpleton's guide to expressions that had grown old and repetitive to him. Why would I call the author a simpleton? Because he is just plain wrong on over half of the expressions that he criticizes. He makes fun of some items correctly, such as abuses of "literally" and "unique", or some overworked catchphrases like "Where's the beef?", but then loses it.
Many of the expressions he abhors are actually rich in history, and represent an admirable nod to tradition, human experience, etymology, and different eras. For example, he hates, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch." and says it's silly for modern, urbanized people to be talking about chickens. Really? The "chickens" are from Aesop's Fable 'The Milk Maid' and date back to 600 BC. An old reference, for sure, but I think the expression has proven itself to have some staying power. For this writer to come along and say we should abandon classic references to such seminal works as Aesop's Fables, just because he's bored of hearing it, is just him griping - and demonstrating an ignorance of literature, history, and etymology. How can one write a book on language with that handicap?
Many others of his gripes fall into the "you don't own chickens, so find a better way to express yourself" formula. His is a sad, robotic interpretation of language. Do we really have to own chickens to talk about them, or would the world be more colorful if we allow (or rather encourage) people to talk with allegory, metaphor, and parable?
He lambastes several business expressions, and is right about a few of them. But most of them have very specific meanings, and the words were invented for a reason - to fill a hole that language didn't cover. A lot of words that he would banish are actually very useful so long as they are used correctly. "Downsized" and "Synergy" are two business words the author hates, but I'll stand to defend. When a person loses a job because a company "downsized" what it means is, yes they were fired, but through no fault of their own. That is a very different meaning than "fired" which the author says is more to the point. "Synergies", meanwhile, is certainly used too often, but nevertheless does fit on occasion: getting your chocolate in my peanut butter comes to mind. I don't agree with the author that we should banish the words.
Other expressions he dislikes are actually very useful shorthand that people can use to effectively communicate with one another. Is the expression "it'll be like finding a needle in a haystack" really so terrible, or is it actually more colorful and quicker to the point than saying "it will be extremely hard to find, because we are looking for something very small in a very big area of possible locations"? The author says the latter is preferable, because it uses plain English instead of a tired, overworked idiom. I say the former is better because it is 'language shorthand'.
Basically, the book was probably based on a few good entries, then the author had to fill up another hundred pages, and just grabbed whatever expressions he could think of, and criticized them. It looks to me like good expressions are thrown in with bad. Just to annoy the author, let me say that he has "thrown the baby out with the bathwater".
 Simple, funny and informative June 14, 2008
I love language and hate to hear college educated people say something such as "Where is John at" so this book confirmed some things for me and taught me other things.
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