Um. . .: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean | 
|  | | | Title: | Um. . .: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean | | Author: | Michael Erard | | Publisher: | Anchor | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 12 August, 2008 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 1400095433 / 9781400095438 | | List Price: | $14.95 | | You Save: | $4.78 | | Amazon Price: | $10.17 | |
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Product Description
This original, entertaining, and surprising book investigates verbal blunders: what they are, what they say about those who make them, and how and why we've come to judge them.
Um... is about how you really speak, and why it's normal for your everyday speech to be filled with errors—about one in every ten words. In this charming, engaging account of language in the wild, linguist and writer Michael Erard also explains why our attention to some blunders rises and falls. Where did the Freudian slip come from? Why do we prize "umlessness" in speaking—and should we? And how do we explain the American presidents who are famous for their verbal stumbles? Full of entertaining examples, Um... is essential reading for talkers and listeners of all stripes.
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Customer Reviews:
• The (verbal) Pause That Refreshes 12 April, 2008
Um. . . entertained and educated me. Anytime you can do both at the same time is an accomplishment. Fortunately, this very readable book by Michael Erard does not come off as stuffy in any way. And it doesn't make one self-conscious, as in the nervous equivalent of crossing and uncrossing one's legs or readjusting one's posture in front of a psychoanalyst. (I can report that seeing a shrink is not really like that anyway, not after the first 877 visits.)
When I was a copy editor at a newspaper, I remember an editor telling me, after I corrected someone's spoken solecism, "Don't edit speech." Wise advice.
Um...The Book takes the reader through a pleasurable stroll through several leafy jungles you wouldn't think had connecting paths: pop culture, anthropology, linguistics, epistemology, psychology, history (...and more! as copywriters shout). (As I have noted before, the book's subtitle, "Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean," embraces the serial comma, as does the narrative. Merci, Mr. Erard and editors.)
The book's website invites examples from readers. I dare not submit this one of my own, because it's more dementia than blunder: I once introduced myself at a serious business function, in front of a large crowd, with the prefatory "His Lord and Eminence" before my name. I don't know what came over me.
I like the fact that the author takes on Herr Dr. Freud and explains how the term "Freudian slip" has taken on a life all its own never intended.
I learned about spoonerisms, powerless vs. powerful speaking, and tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.
I'm, um, thinking that at the office holiday gala, with my bow tie on and pinkie out, I'll try to impress someone (well, someone with ample cleavage, of course) by breezily dropping terms like parapraxis (or parapraxes, plural) or Fehlleistung (Fehlleistungen). The German is literally "faulty performance." The hope is I'll be referring conversationally to language or memory, not some other kind of, um, "performance."
I've had a fussy awareness of these things even before I read the book (evidently, that's why my friend from WebPros sent it to me), so today it was amusing to hear a public official say at a forum several times: "flush it out" instead of "flesh it out." (Well, he was referring to an aqueduct.) (I once knew a colleague who thought "flesh it out" was too meaty and gross an expression, and she wasn't even a vegan!)
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2E8IYHIW4Q1G7
• Both Leisure Readers And Students Of Language Alike Will Find It Engrossing. 02 December, 2007
Either high school or college-level literary libraries or those strong in psychology and language will find UM an excellent survey which considers the verbal blunder and its underlying psychology. With its strong introduction in the history of language and disfluency from ancient Greece to modern times to its survey of how slips of the tongue gained new meaning from psychology, both popular culture and literature figure in a survey which is a funny yet pointed study of everyday speech and language development. Both leisure readers and students of language alike will find it engrossing.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A14OJS0VWMOSWO
• A Pedestrian Discussion 21 November, 2008
I don't think this book provides a very meaningful discussion on the psychological meaning behind slips, stumbles, and verbal blunders, but it does offer up an interesting perusal of the literature on the subject. The tale of Reverend Spooner and his Spoonerisms was intriguing as was Sigmund Freud and his theory of, not slips, but "faulty performance." As a figure, Rudolf Meringer was even more interesting and I had never heard of him before opening Um. His battle with Freud was a highlight of these pages. The truth lies somewhere in between these two men and their theories. Some of the information was quite illuminating such as the average human speaking between 7,500 and 22,500 words a day. I also appreciated the section on George Mahl. Overall though, this book gives an overview and tour more than it does penetrating analysis of verbal misstatements.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A34PAZQ73SL163
• Um... Was An Interesting Book, But Not What I Expected. 14 January, 2008
The book contains a lot of history about people who have made slips of tongue, and people who record slips of tongue made by others. There is not much analysis of slips and verbal blunders we make; I was expecting more. It's a quick read.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AM9E732O13NVK
• Tips Of The Slongue 25 May, 2008
Michael Erard's terrific new book, "Um", covers everything from spoonerisms and malapropisms to eggcorns and mondegreens. If you haven't heard of the last two, they're covered here with aplomb (a plum?) as are dozens of examples of pause fillers. Since George Bush seems to have increased his summer reading over the past few years, this is one book the president shouldn't miss...he may be part of the impetus for its publication.
Ever since a friend of mine asked me at dinner years ago, "when will our waiter soove the serp?", I've been fascinated by the oddities that fly from innocent mouths. Erard categorizes these verbal miscues into all sorts of arrangements and a glossary at the end of the book is helpful in reminding the reader what material has been covered. The author looks at two areas that were of particular interest...how slips of the tongue differ in other languages and cultures and how children handle pauses and perseverations (for example) at various stages of their fluency development.
Erard has a clear and nicely-paced narrative style making "Um" such an enjoyable book. An appealing sequel would be one that comments on the three current presidential candidates and their varying contributions to public discourse, relative to what the author has written here. The next time I have my own slip of the ear (as when I heard someone say "grocery seats" when they meant "gross receipts") I'll refer back to "Um" and have a good laugh all over again.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2ZHB7E544QLLQ
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