Junk English

by Ken Smith and Ken Smith

Book Overview

In Junk English, Ken Smith takes on the misuse, abuse, and downright decay of the English language. His weapons? A sharp wit and an almost frightening grasp of the depths of the decline. Written so that the ordinary writer and speaker of English can readily see how the manipulation of words keeps the culture in a haze of misunderstandings and vagueness, Junk English covers the whole spectrum of the problem. In short sections such as "Butt-Covering,"...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0922233233
• ISBN13: 9780922233236
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Blast Books
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.0" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

A humbling imperative

Ken Smith has written an equally dazzling and puzzling book that will leave you wondering what words you might have overused... In this little book, he compiles a list of the many words that have been abused by arrogance, misunderstanding, and sheer nonsense. Nothing rings true about these words but their dictionary definitions. They may puzzle, and excite, but their silence rings true as empty bells.

The Standard

Excellent. Strunk & White on steroids. And a lot easier to reference than Strunk & White. The alphabetical system makes a lot more sense. Required reading.

Oh so necessary.

The thing I like most about this book - apart from it being a fantastic resource - is its tone. In Junk English, Ken Smith takes all the things you secretly dislike and slams them - but with the subtlety of a truly insightful, and obviously talented, writer.I think if this book had "profundized" any further, it would no longer suit its intended audience, as Mr. Smith states so himself in his opening message: "This book is a broad overview of an encyclopedic subject. Much had to be pared away... My intent was to keep this book small and handy so that it would be useful to a spectrum of people, for Junk English will not go away until all of us recognize it."The experts in psychology and semiotics have far less of a need for this book than the person trying to decode the text on their credit card bill.A very necessary book!

An Amusing Corrective

Ken Smith, in the new critique of sloppy language _Junk English_ (Blast Books), continues an attack that has lasted over a hundred years on a pet peeve of mine, the misuse of the word "unique": "_Unique_, a word that means one of a kind, is freely bandied about by advertising copywriters and others who wish to sell with a certain high status. That so few things really are unique is precisely what gives the word its power. _Unique_'s veracity has been shaved away by phrases such as _practically unique_, _virtually unique_, _somewhat unique_, _most unique_, and so on, which truthfully mean _not_ unique. This is not to say that the products or positions or people being touted are not notable, special, exceptional, fabulous, marvelous, worthy, or rare, but it is highly unlikely that they are in fact unique."This is not a grammar book, but one which looks at current shoddy word use as a human foible: "It is sometimes innocent, sometimes lazy, sometimes well intended, but most often it is a trick we play on ourselves to make the unremarkable seem important... Junk English is the linguistic equivalent of junk food - ingest it long enough and your brain goes soft." Smith's book is a compilation of examples which he has spotted in print or broadcast, and he has obviously a good ear and eye for them; Smith admits that he uses such phrases, just as everyone does, and reading this book is an exercise in humility, for sometimes only after Smith points out a common usage does it seem junk. For instance, under the section "People Reduction," Smith points out that "people" and "person" are disappearing from usage, replaced by "individual" or "individuals." Even worse, we have become not people, but consumers: "The nearly inescapable _consumers_ has become a cold synonym for many more accurate and human terms. We are gradually being turned into creatures whose only defining characteristic is that we shop: 'Consumers should check their medicine cabinet once a year for medications that are expired or are no longer being used.'" In a section on "Free-for-all-verbs", doesn't point out that for years some people have "gifted" presents to others, but his examples go from the almost acceptable "The parents took it upon themselves to see to it that all the kids were journaling every day" to the completely horrid "We're efforting to work this out." A relatively new verb "privatize" means to make a previously governmental function into a business to make money. Everyone likes privacy, and everyone likes smaller government, so there has been a popular push to privatize, but would you not think twice before sending your child to a school run as a business to make money? It is one of the many examples of Orwellian Newspeak in the book; it would be more honest, Smith shows, to create the word "profitize."It's a darned shame that _Junk English_ is not going to be read by those copywriters and speechwriters who are the perpetrators of so many of the abuses catalogued

Amazing! A book that teaches yet is fun to read!

Junk English is, perhaps, Ken Smith's greatest work to date. Junk English is an interesting and humorous take on the current state of the written English language but more than that it is a reference book that can make you a better writer. Before reading Junk English I was certain that all books that could make a person a better writer had to be dull and lifeless. Junk English shatters that myth in grand style thanks to Ken Smith's wit and writing style. This book will take it's proper place in my library next to my other English reference books but, more than that, it will remain the ONLY book about the English language that was fun to read.