This original, entertaining, and surprising book
investigates verbal blunders: what they are, what they say about those
who make them, and how and why we've come to judge them.
Um...
is about how you really speak, and why it's normal for your everyday
speech to be filled with errors—about one in every ten words.
In this charming, engaging account of language in the wild, linguist
and writer Michael Erard also explains why our attention to some
blunders rises and falls.
Where did the Freudian slip come from? Why do we prize "umlessness" in
speaking—and should we? And how do we explain the American
presidents who are famous for their verbal stumbles? Full of
entertaining examples, Um...
is essential reading for talkers and listeners of all stripes.
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Um...
Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal
Blunders, and What They Mean
by Michael Erard
Anchor Books, 2008
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