Slam Dunks and No-Brainers
Author: Savan, Leslie
ISBN: 9780375702426
Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE US
Year first published: 15 Jan 2007
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback / softback
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.
ISBN: 9780375702426
Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE US
Year first published: 15 Jan 2007
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback / softback
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.
