Going nucular
Subtitle: language, politics, and culture in confrontational times
By: Geoffrey Nunberg
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 2004
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 298
ISBN-13: 9781586482343; 9781586483456
Subjects: Terminology; Semantics; Political science; Wortschatz; Usage; Politik; English language
Description: "The words that echo through Geoff Nunberg's new journey across the landscape of American language evoke exactly the tenor of our times. Nunberg has an ear for the new, the comic, and the absurd. He pronounces that "'Blog' is a syllable whose time has come," and that "You don't get to be a verb unless you're doing something right," with which he launches into the effect of Google on our collective consciousness. Nunberg hears the shifting use of "Gallic" as we suddenly find ourselves in bitter opposition to the French; he's fiercely funny in his demystification of economists who can't deal with hard times - "a 'recession' is really no more exact a notion that a bad hair day"; perhaps only Nunberg could compare "America the Beautiful" with the Syrian national anthem that contains the line "A land resplendent with brilliant suns ... almost like a sky centipede."" "Behind the droll linguistic observations that Nunberg delights in are the core concerns that have occupied American minds. "Going Nucular," the title piece, is more than a bit of fun at the president's expense. Nunberg's analysis is as succinct a summary of the questions that hover over the administration's military strategy as any political insider's. It exemplifies the message of the book : that in the smallest ticks and cues of language the most important issues and thoughts of our times can be heard and understood. If you know how to listen for them."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Culture at Large --; title: Plastics! --; title: Keeping Ahead of the Joneses --; title: Caucasian Talk Circles --; title: Near Myths --; title: Lamenting Some Enforced Chastity --; title: Stolen Words --; title: Beating Their Brows --; title: Prurient Interests --; title: War Drums --; title: When Words Fail --; title: A Name Too Far --; title: Beleaguered Infidel --; title: It All Started with Robespierre --; title: It May Be Banal but It's Bad News --; title: Going Nucular --; title: Appease Porridge Hot --; title: The Second Casualty --; title: Naming of Foreign Parts --; title: The Syntax of Resistance --; title: A Couple of Words for Nothing Left to Lose --; title: The Gallic Subject --; title: Begin the Regime --; title: We'll Always Have Kirkuk --; title: Politics as Usual --; title: So Sorry --; title: Some of My Best Friends --; title: Interested Parties --; title: Me, Too, Too --; title: Slippery Slopes --; title: If It's Orwellian, It's Probably Not --; title: Meetings of the Minds --; title: Lattes, Limousines, and Libs --; title: Where the Left Commences --; title: A Fascist in Every Garage --; title: Class Dismissed --; title: Special Effects --; title: Symbols --; title: A Date to Remember --; title: Our Nation's Favorite Song --; title: The Last Refuge of Scoundrels and Other People --; title: Pledge Break --; title: Media Words --; title: Rush Limbaugh's Plurals --; title: The Politics of Polysyndeton --; title: The Speech That Turns Mere Presidents Into Talk Show Hosts --; title: I Seeing the News Today, Oh Boy --; title: Roil Pain --; title: Business Cycles --; title: For Love or Money --; title: The Triumph of Capitalism --; title: A Good Old-Gentlemanly Vice --; title: The Vision Thing --; title: Initiating Mission-Critical Jargon Reduction --; title: Farewell to the Alero --; title: 100 Percent Solutions --; title: Tech Talk --; title: As Google Goes, So Goes the Nation --; title: I Have Seen the Future, and It Blogs --; title: Prefixed Out.