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Title: The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations : The Complete Opinionated Guide for the Careful Speaker by Charles Harrington Elster ISBN: 0-395-89338-0 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 28 January, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.41 (17 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Passionate and Wonderful!
Comment: Elster could be a blow-hard. He could be a nauseating pedant. Instead, he's the charmingly gnomish author of this magnificently entertaining book. Like many of us, he had a mother who would pin his ears to the wall if he dared confuse who with whom. And this guy's mom knew that "flaccid" is pronounced "Flak-sid", did you? Or how's this: try ordering a "daiquiri" (Dy-kuh-ree). Good luck; but of course you'll be correct. This very BIG book of "beastly" mispronunciations is gleefully entertaining. You won't just get the correct pronunciations, but concise reasoning on why a word crept into the language, why it should be tossed out, who corrupted it, and why we tend to garble nuclear (N(Y)oo-kle-ur), while clinging to the "psuedo-French"- ified envelope (AHN-vul-lohp). This could be nothing more than a pesky book, but Elster is so passionate about the Language, and so wildly fun that it's just great reading-- if not terminally humbling. Three distinct groups deserve this gift: Post-modernists who will turn away in horror (then read it on the sly), people who speak English, and those who find in words the delicate beauty of a very good opera-- when sung correctly.
Rating: 5
Summary: a consequential collection for the careful speaker
Comment: Admit it: from time to time, we all like to use a ten dollar word to demonstrate our mastery of the English language. As President W. Bush can attest, however, nothing's more embarrassing at such moments than discovering you've just mispronounced the word.
To our rescue comes Charles Harrington Elster, an expert in the ways of saying words correctly. In "The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations," he provides not only an almost exhaustive list of frequently mispronounced words, but clear and entertaining explanations and arguments of why his pronunciation is correct.
Elster has carefully researched each word, providing evidence from dictionaries, usage in broadcast media, and historical linguistics to explain why a word ought to be said in a certain way.
Elster is someone who cares about the English language. The role of language is to communicate, and communication is impossible if we cannot understand one another. Thus, common pronunciation of words is significant.
On the whole, Elster prefers pronunciations that have history and permanence. Many arguments for words I thought I'd been saying all along were clearly presented with his preferred pronunciation in my dictionary. He does concede in some cases that a common mispronunciation of a word has become correct, by sheer weight of usage. He also is careful to note pronunciations that differ between British and American English. He also provides the correct pronunciation of some names and places.
As someone who shares Elster's love of the language, I recommend this book highly. It's one of my most-used reference books, and not just because it's stored in the guest bathroom.
Rating: 1
Summary: -1star (reference value) + 2 stars (entertainment value)
Comment: [...]. the author's rules are, indeed, entirely arbitrary.
simply performing a mental utterance of many of his "proper" pronunciations affected me as strongly as a fingernail on a blackboard.
i take particular exception to his endorsement of the mutilation of the many japanese words that have found their way into our vocabulary.
for the most part, our alphabet is capable of approximating japanese words. as in spanish borrowed words, where one shouldn't be expected to trill the "r", (i loved the reference to the saturday night live sketch with jimmy smits!) the pronunciation can be anglicized, but i don't understand his endorsement -- and sometimes origination -- of whimsically swapping out entire syllables.
i can guess what he considers to be the correct pronunciations of "tokyo" and "kyoto". but i assure you, each of these words have TWO syllables -- not THREE, not FIVE.
additionally, (and i may be in a minority here) i'm bothered by his overweening love of the schwa, with which he replaces almost every instance of a short vowel in an unstressed syllable, thus endorsing an inarticulate mush-mouthed uh-mur-uh-cun-uh-zay-shun of the language and his erratic syllable division greatly reduces the already shrinking list of words which have etymologically sound pronunciations.
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Title: Verbal Advantage : Ten Easy Steps to a Powerful Vocabulary by Charles Harrington Elster ISBN: 0375709320 Publisher: Random House Reference & Pub. Date: 26 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: There's a Word for It! by Charles Harrington Elster ISBN: 0671778587 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Le Mot Juste : A Dictionary of Classical and Foreign Words and Phrases by John Buchanan-Brown ISBN: 0679734554 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 03 December, 1991 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Everything You Pretend to Know and Are Afraid Someone Will Ask You by Lynette Padwa ISBN: 0140513221 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: April, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Oxford Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases (Oxford Paperback Reference) by Jennifer Speake ISBN: 0192801120 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: October, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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