| Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Pop Language in Your Life, the Media, and Like . . . Whatever Contributor(s): Savan, Leslie (Author) |
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ISBN: 0375702423 ISBN-13: 9780375702426 Publisher: Vintage OUR PRICE: $12.60 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2006 Annotation: With dazzling wit and acuity, three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Savan dissects contemporary language to discover what the most popular idioms reveal about America today. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Media Studies - Social Science | Popular Culture - Language Arts & Disciplines | Linguistics - Sociolinguistics |
| Dewey: 302.230 |
| Physical Information: 0.73" H x 5.3" W x 8" (0.58 lbs) 352 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In this marvelously original book, three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Leslie Savan offers fascinating insights into why we're all talking the talk--Duh; Bring it on ; Bling; Whatever --and what this reveals about America today. Savan traces the paths that phrases like these travel from obscure slang to pop stardom, selling everything from cars (ads for VWs, Mitsubishis, and Mercurys all pitch them as "no-brainer"s) to wars (finding WMD in Iraq was to be a "slam dunk"). Real people create these catchy phrases, but once media, politics, and businesses broadcast them, they burst out of our mouths as celebrity words, newly glamorous and powerful. Witty, fun, and full of thought-provoking stories about the origins of popular expressions, Slam Dunks and No-Brainers is for everyone who loves the mysteries of language. |
