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Inside the Cover Book Review Review by Jenna Glatzer
Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Language in Your Life, the Media, Business, Politics, and, Like, Whatever By Leslie Savan Alfred A. Knopf October, 2005 340 pages
Sometimes it’s easy to spot "pop phrases," the snappy expressions that invade our language and become coolness crutches. Just watch the movie Clueless or hang out in a mall for a while.
"You go, girlfriend!" "Pink is the new black." "What-ever." "I give you props for that." "Don’t go there." "Duh!" "Talk to the hand." "Get a life!" "What’s the 411?"
It’s easy to dismiss these phrases as teen-speak, and assume the teens will grow out of it and quit annoying the rest of us. But look inward and be honest: Have you never said, "Don’t even think about it" or "Get real" or "You think?" Even our most revered intellectuals fall into pop-speak from time to time. Sometimes it’s well-placed for comedic effect or to sum up a difficult concept, and sometimes it’s just a lazy shield for sloppy logic.
This book examines those expressions, where they came from, and who uses them. In the first chapter, Savan asks, "Is everything we say a semi-programmed turn of speech? Are new combinations of old idioms the only original forms of speech left to us?"
She also admits her own self-consciousness in writing this book-- some pop phrases are so commonplace that they become a mental default for the expression of particular feelings and ideas. She describes her worry about discovering that she used pop phrases in a book that is meant to hold these phrases out for scrutiny. But the truth is that unless you "live in a cave" (cough), there’s no avoiding these phrases altogether-- and you don’t have to. Some are just plain fun to say. But it’s interesting to think about why we say them, and in some cases, who’s cashing in.
This book should hold particular appeal to writers, though, who aspire to originality. Instead of repeating these pop phrases like well-programmed consumer robots, we could create new ones instead. (Someone has to!)
If you’re interested in gaining insight into the differences between pop and slang, the role marketing teams have in our lexicon, why corporations love "black talk," how sitcoms program our pop phrasing, or why it’s okay to call a group of women "you guys," this book will give you plenty to think about.
The added bonus is that it doesn’t feel like a textbook. It’s an enjoyable read, particularly on one of those days when you’ve felt your intellect slipping on the banana peels of reality TV and celebrity magazine headlines. Consider this book a good elective course in your writerly education.
Jenna Glatzer is the editor in chief of www.AbsoluteWrite.com and the author of a bunch of books. Her latest is the children’s picture book HATTIE, GET A HAIRCUT! Check it out at www.jennaglatzer.com.
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