Product Description: "Maggie Balistreri takes dead aim at the Like, Whatever faction of English speakers and splatters them with her paint ball. Clear-minded grammar wins out in the end. Bravo." —Garrison Keillor
What if you fired your shrink and hired a proofreader?
More than just a dictionary of euphemisms by a hip young linguist, The Evasion-English Dictionary is a merciless translation of the banalities of contemporary speech. It's also scathingly funny.
For example, asks Balisteri, what if you substituted the word "you" for the phrase "the relationship"—as in the sentence, "There seem to be a lot of problems with the relationship." Or the word "because" for the word "but" . . . as in the sentence, "They drive me crazy but my parents are very involved in my life."
Entertaining as it is, however, the E.E.D. is also a thought-provoking and insightful look into the twists and turns of modern English usage—a smart and useful, albeit hysterical, earwitness account of verbal mishaps and manipulations that's destined to become a classic with language lovers and a useful reference tool on the desk of writers everywhere.
"The brilliant writing, lucid thinking, and authentic passion in these pages make The Evasion-English Dictionary one of the most readable and incisive exposures of linguistic camouflage I have ever encountered.—Richard Lederer, author of Anguished English
"A stimulating collection that will sharpen yours ears and stretch your mind."—Thomas Szasz, author of The Untamed Tongue: A Dissenting Dictionary
Evasion by Default "The Evasion Dictionary" by Maggie Balistreri is a excellent volume to aid authors in the construction of dialogue. How does a character answer a tough question without telling all of the truth, yet not lying? A gold mine of illustrations that will spark the most staid of imaginations. This is a book to read in-as-of-itself, it trains the ear to eavesdrop with perception. A fine addition to a sparse field. Nash Black, author of "Qualifying Laps" and "Taxes, Stumbling Blocks & Pitfalls for Authors 2007."
What's Beneath Your Syntactic Interface? Maggie Balistreri's critique of our masked, substantively evasive dialect offers humorous, albeit troubling, insight into how much of the social fabric, the prevailing belief structures and cultural processes, are entrenched in mass denial, subsisting on and predicated upon the avoidance of truth and meaning within common, everday conversations and exchanges. Think of it as speaking in riddles. Unfortunately, it's done considerable damage in shaping the broader public discourse.
This particular deficiency is widely adhered to on an unconscious level, to the extent that it's accepted as 'normal'. Let's suppose that the majority of a population shared a common mental illness, a soul sickness; isn't it possible, even likely, that over time, a greater percentage of them would be unable to acknowledge the disease ...*as a disease?* And by that postulation, wouldn't the afflicted then in turn deem those not likewise effected by it as the ones who are sick, weird, bad, wrong, etc?
With people generally unaware of this process(and likely uninterested in it)they are incapable of acknowledging how cognition and grammer are fused in a manner indicative of a deficient, or at least insufficient, mode of consciousness and expression which is congrous to self deception, mass deception, and in turn, self and societal censorship.
This elaborate process largely stems from the "Just Do It" corporatized mentality. The underlying, strategic message of "Just Do It" is DON'T THINK. That is, don't think beyond the superficialities of life: of a mindless, wage slave existence relegated to the various conformities of rampant consumerism, and all it entails to define human worth and "success" on such terms.
When people don't think beyond those terms, when the customary, daily round of life is beset with a deluge of incentives and inducements toward desensitization and immediate gratification rooted in the manipulation and exploitation of innate human insecurities, often through induced signals and social cues concerning inadequacy, fear, anxiety, the result is an unthinking, non critical, homogeneous conformity among the populace where the surrender or denial of critical thought, genuine expression and emotional respression is widely encouraged, enabling an overall acceptance and exaltation of a unique spiritual and intellectual paralysis. Logically it follows that since most are environmentally impacted and absorbed into this deficiency, its symptoms and manifestations are largely viewed as the opposite of what they really are, allowing for a delusional, happy consciousness. Language reflects this.
My take on what Maggie is addressing in her book isn't a random social trend, and that there isn't necessarily a direct correlation with this dilemma and a person's overall intelligence or vocabulary; it's an inevitable byproduct of poisonous, corporatized values. The proof is how corporate power, which is basically the hierarchy of government, so obviously benefits in every way from the crisis of social and spiritual declivity. The greater the degree of ignorance, apathy, and general disharmony, the greater profits to be made from human misery, and the more draconian measures that can be implemented by exploiting the symptoms which then serves to frighten people into being less independent minded and more stupified, perpetuating the cycle.
The psychological dynamics of these cycles are fairly simple to figure out provided people are encouraged to do so. If they're not sufficiently roused into paying attention to matters of great public import(something that the media should do but of course does just the opposite)than naturally, the people's language and efforts of communication are going to reflect a particularly narrow mindset.
"Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul" ~ Mark Twain
Buy this book...please! Contrary to what the author thinks, I blame the viral use of the word 'like' - the precursor to the computer virus - on ... Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. Who didn't let that little munchy craving, paranoid pothead infect us all?
The word is everywhere, ubiquitous, nonsense and useless. Finally, finally, finally, someone exposes the term for what it is - evasion. She breaks it down and reveals its many uses. Other terms such as 'whatever' are give due treatment as well. The book is linguistically sound and is humorous, if you get the joke.
I cannot recommend this book enough if you wish to expose the virus and root it out of your vocabulary.
Interesting, but Over Priced I liked the book, althought some of the sections seemed stretched. My only real complaint is over the price ... . Pulling the pamphlet sized book from the Amazon box left me feeling a bit cheated.
Witty, Funny, and Like, Right On! In this witty and extremely funny little book, Maggie Balistreri, has been able to step back and listen, really listen, to not only what we, as a culture, are saying, but how we say it, and bring it all home, to our attention.
Balistreri not only has provided humorous examples of office-speak, relationship banter, parenting jibberish, and teen-speak, but she makes you think about what you are saying, really.
Two of my favorite sections are "whatever" and "like." I had no idea there were that many different meanings attached to the word "whatever." And, "like" is my favorite pet peeve of today's English.
The book is such a delightful read, I could hardly put it down, and was unable to resist reading passages to my friends, especially those whose speach patterns were found in the book.
The book was so enjoyable, I could not resist a second read as well.
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