Book
Um...: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean
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Paperback
$18.00
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?
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?
Paperback
$18.00