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Inside the Cover Book Review Review by Jenna Glatzer
Armed Gunmen, True Facts, and Other Ridiculous Nonsense By Richard Kallan Pantheon Books May, 2005 145 pages Amazon.com price: $10.17
Writing professors tell us, “Never use two words when one will do.” Sometimes, though, phrases are so commonplace that we naturally use them without examining whether each word is needed, or whether two or more words are doing the same job.
This little book is a whimsical tribute to the tautology, cataloguing and defining 1,000 popular phrases that are crying out for an editor. Here are a few of my favorite entries:
Soft Whisper A popular alternative to the screaming whisper
Temporary Loan Permanent loans lead to temporary relationships.
Free Gift Finally: a gift for which you’re not charged.
Joint Partnership A couple of potheads sharing dope.
Subtle Nuance A nuance that’s not blatantly obvious.
If you like a little laughter with your learning, here’s a perfect book for you. My bet is that Kallan the smarty-pants learned a thing or two while he was contemplating the perfect comeback zingers for these collected tautologies. You’re likely to find several phrases you’ve been using without giving much thought to the redundancy of the words, so be ready to laugh at yourself.
The amusing little book features black-and-white illustrations by nineteenth century artist George Cruikshank.
And the title? Kallan defines “armed gunmen” as “When you need to distinguish between two gunmen, one of whom is missing a couple of limbs.” Perhaps the best part of the book, though, is the “Concluding Coda,” where the author tells the story of how this book came about while he ate far too much food in an amphitheater and heard a wannabe stripper screaming about college tuition while sniffing glue. Really, the story brought tears to my own two eyes while I quietly pondered how I might ever have advanced forward in my writing career without this new innovation.
Jenna Glatzer is the author of 14 books, including Words You Thought You Knew, which you can read about at www.jennaglatzer.com.
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