Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean
MICHAEL ERARD, a graduate of Williams College, received an M.A. in linguistics and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas. His articles about language have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, Science, Seed, The Texas Observer, and many other publications. His website is www.michaelerard.com. He lives in Austin, Texas, and Portland, Maine.
“An enjoyable tour of linguistic mishaps. . . . Rewarding. . . . It
reveals the dynamic nature of the human mind.” —The New York
Times Book Review
“Engaging. . . . By focusing on what many of us overlook (or
underhear?), Erard has further revealed the complexity and beauty
of language. Perhaps he will make all of us both better listeners
and, um, better speakers.” —The Seattle Times
“A fascinating look at those two-letter words we all know and, uh,
overuse.” —GQ
“Erard's enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. He gets you
wondering about blundering.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Some people are bird watchers and learn a great deal about the
birds they watch. Michael Erard watches word botchers and, in the
process, enriches our experience of what language is about and what
makes us human. After reading Um…, you'll never hear the thud and
blunder of everyday speech in the same way.” —Richard Lederer,
author of Anguished English
“Who'd have thought that a book called Um could be a page-turner?
But Michael Erard's investigtions of "applied blunderology" come to
something more than the familiar catalogues of verbal slips and
gaffes from the high and the low. It's also a fascinating
meditation on why blunders happen, and what they tell us about
language and ourselves. At its deepest level, Um is an
exercise in the zen of attention, which tunes us in to the
revealing noises and pauses that we spend most of our time tuning
out.” —Geoffrey Nunberg, NPR commentator
“A lascinating fook at yet another revealing instance of human
imperfection.” —Kirkus (Starred Review)
“Included throughout are hilarious highlight reels of bloopers,
boners, Spoonerisms, malapropisms and ‘eggcorns'... His work
challenges the reader to think about his or her own speech in an
entirely new way." —Publishers Weekly
"An enjoyable tour of linguistic mishaps. . . . Rewarding. . . . It
reveals the dynamic nature of the human mind." -The New York
Times Book Review
"Engaging. . . . By focusing on what many of us overlook (or
underhear?), Erard has further revealed the complexity and beauty
of language. Perhaps he will make all of us both better listeners
and, um, better speakers." -The Seattle Times
"A fascinating look at those two-letter words we all know and, uh,
overuse." -GQ
"Erard's enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. He gets you
wondering about blundering." -The Wall Street Journal
"Some people are bird watchers and learn a great deal about the
birds they watch. Michael Erard watches word botchers and, in the
process, enriches our experience of what language is about and what
makes us human. After reading Um..., you'll never hear the
thud and blunder of everyday speech in the same way." -Richard
Lederer, author of Anguished English
"Who'd have thought that a book called Um could be a
page-turner? But Michael Erard's investigtions of "applied
blunderology" come to something more than the familiar catalogues
of verbal slips and gaffes from the high and the low. It's also a
fascinating meditation on why blunders happen, and what they tell
us about language and ourselves. At its deepest level, Um is
an exercise in the zen of attention, which tunes us in to the
revealing noises and pauses that we spend most of our time tuning
out." -Geoffrey Nunberg, NPR commentator
"A lascinating fook at yet another revealing instance of human
imperfection." -Kirkus (Starred Review)
"Included throughout are hilarious highlight reels of bloopers,
boners, Spoonerisms, malapropisms and 'eggcorns'... His work
challenges the reader to think about his or her own speech in an
entirely new way." -Publishers Weekly
Journalist and language expert Erard believes we can learn a lot from our mistakes. He argues that the secrets of human speech are present in our own proliferating verbal detritus. Erard plots a comprehensive outline of verbal blunder studies throughout history, from Freud's fascination with the slip to Allen Funt's Candid Camera. Smoothly summarizing complex linguistic theories, Erard shows how slip studies undermine some well-established ideas on language acquisition and speech. Included throughout are hilarious highlight reels of bloopers, boners, Spoonerisms, malapropisms and "eggcorns." The author also introduces interesting people along the way, from notebook-toting, slip-collecting professors to the devoted members of Toastmasters, a public speaking club with a self-help focus. According to Erard, the "aesthetic of umlessness" is a relatively new development in society originating alongside advents in mechanical reproduction, but it may be on its way out already. Take President Bush, who exemplifies that "the quirky casual, whether it is intentional or spontaneous, can inspire more trust than the slick and polished." Erard closes by examining our own propensity toward verbal missteps, demonstrating how the interpretation of blunders is inextricable from social expectations. While Erard's conclusion that meaning is socially and historically embedded may not be unfamiliar, his work challenges the reader to think about his or her own speech in an entirely new way. (Aug.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
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