Um...: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean
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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. The New York Times - Christine Kenneally On his enjoyable tour of linguistic mishaps, Erard, a freelance journalist based in Austin, Tex., takes in everything from robotics to the federal government's transcription service, Aristotle to contemporary public speaking coaches.
A Note to the Reader xiIntroduction 3The Secrets of Reverend Spooner 15The Life and Times of the Freudian Slip 28Some Facts About Verbal Blunders 53What We, uh, Talk About When We Talk About "uh" 78A Brief History of "Um" 111Well Spoken 144The Birth of Bloopers 167Slips in the Limelight 181Fun with Slips 202President Blunder 224The Future of Verbal Blunders 243AfterUm 253Recommended Reading 269A Field Guide to Verbal Blunders 275Slips Versus Disfluencies 285Acknowledgments 287Index 291
