Cover of Lost For Words

Lost For Words

Today programme presenter's Top Ten bestselling cry for better English in paperback for summer. From empty cliche to meaningless jargon, dangling participle to sentences without verbs, the English language is reeling. It is under attack from all sides. Politicians dupe us with deliberately evasive language. Bosses worry about impacting the bottom line while they think out of the box. Academics talk obscure mumbo jumbo. Journalists and broadcasters, who should know better, lazily collaborate. John Humphrys wittily and powerfully exposes the depths to which our beautiful language has sunk and offers many examples of the most common atrocities. He also dispenses some sensible guidance on how to use simple, clear and honest language. Above all, he shows us how to be on the alert for the widespread abuse - especially by politicians - and the power of the English language.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 334 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Lost For Words? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Lost For Words. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Complete Plain Words Shares language, writing, nonfiction
  2. The Gift of the Gab: How Eloquence Works Shares language, nonfiction, english language
  3. Political Animal: An Anatomy Shares nonfiction
  4. Port Out, Starboard Home Shares language, nonfiction

“People who read Lost For Words tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Expletive Deleted: A Good Look at Bad Language
  2. Get Thee to a Punnery: An Anthology of Intentional Assaults Upon the English Language
  3. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
  4. As Used On the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade

“If you want more of the same, start with these.”

  1. Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary: Or Why Can't Anybody Spell
  2. English Grammar for Students of Latin: The Study Guide for Those Learning Latin
  3. Endangered Words: a Collection of Rare Gems for Word Lovers
  4. 501 Great Writers: A Comprehensive Guide to the Giants of Literature

“If it was the language that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The English Language: A Historical Introduction
  2. The Dictionary of Disagreeable English: A Curmudgeon's Compendium of Excruciatingly Correct Grammar
  3. Red Herrings and White Elephants
  4. A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi": The Origin of Foreign Words Used in English

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Don't Dangle Your Participle
  2. Sawyer Beckett's Baby Mama Drama Guide For Dummies
  3. Myths, Lies and Half-Truths of Language Usage
  4. Junk English