Talk Is Cheap: Sarcasm, Alienation, and the Evolution of Language

by John Haiman

Book Overview

Putting aside questions of truth and falsehood, the old "talk is cheap" maxim carries as much weight as ever. Indeed, perhaps more. For one need not be an expert in irony or sarcasm to realize that people don't necessarily mean what they say. Phrases such as "Yeah, right" and "I couldn't care less" are so much a part of the way we speak--and the way we live--that we are more likely to notice when they are absent (for example, Forrest Gump). From our...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195115252
• ISBN13: 9780195115253
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.2"