The Superior Person's Field Guide to Deceitful, Deceptive & Downright Dangerous Language

Download or read book The Superior Person's Field Guide to Deceitful, Deceptive & Downright Dangerous Language written by Peter Bowler and published by David R. Godine Publisher. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With his customary wit and clear-sightedness, Bowler cuts a swath through the thickets of popular jargon, casting daylight on such linguistic deformities as "interrogate with prejudice" (that is, torture) and "unforeseen geological event" (a mining disaster). Impatient with euphemism, he examines ugly specimens forced into bloom in the interests of political correctness - "waitperson," "developmentally challenged" - designed to help the squeamish avoid direct confrontation with the simple facts of sex and disability. Here are circumlocutions that make the disagreeable seem agreeable, the unacceptable acceptable, and here is Peter Bowler, as always, trying to set the record, and the English language, straight."--BOOK JACKET.