Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reas
2 journalers for this copy...
from the Amazon review:
Lynne Truss is the pundit of pet peeves. She's taken on the ignorance of basic grammar with Eats, Shoots & Leaves, now she bravely rallies against the abysmal state of manners. And while she uses the Jerry Springer-esque phrase of 'talk to the hand' as her title, it's obvious she'd like to have snarkily dubbed it "Learn Some Effing Manners People!"--only she's too polite to do so. (It should be noted that while she's shocked by 6-year-olds using the f -word, she's hopeful that it's so overused that it'll soon sink into obsolescence.) To hammer across her points on politesse, Truss pulls quotations from an astonishing range of sources. Sociologist Erving Goffman is a favorite, but the Simpsons (of cartoon fame, not Jessica & Ashlee), Evelyn Waugh, and W.B. Yeats are also tapped. What her rant boils down to though is unsurprising: modern communication is at the root of rude behavior. Mobile phones and iPods have left us existing in our own little "bubble worlds," she says. "It used to be just CIA agents with earpieces…who regarded all the little people as irrelevant scum. Now it's nearly everybody." These self-produced bubbles make it easy for rudeness to rule. If someone forgets to hold a door or say "Thank you," it's because, Truss says, they're zoned out in their personal space, and will likely be offended if their lack of manners is pointed out. (The ruder the person, she says, the more easily offended.) Truss certainly earns many chuckles throughout her somewhat rambling musings, but her concern about society's decline is serious. To that end, she offers the words of Willy Loman's wife in Arthur Miller's most famous play on modern-day morality (and we all remember what happens in its last act): "Attention must be paid."
I found this book to be quite "on point". It is far to true that society seems to be much ruder these days.
Will send to time-traveler as part of 17 RABCK's for Catie. Please enjoy.
Lynne Truss is the pundit of pet peeves. She's taken on the ignorance of basic grammar with Eats, Shoots & Leaves, now she bravely rallies against the abysmal state of manners. And while she uses the Jerry Springer-esque phrase of 'talk to the hand' as her title, it's obvious she'd like to have snarkily dubbed it "Learn Some Effing Manners People!"--only she's too polite to do so. (It should be noted that while she's shocked by 6-year-olds using the f -word, she's hopeful that it's so overused that it'll soon sink into obsolescence.) To hammer across her points on politesse, Truss pulls quotations from an astonishing range of sources. Sociologist Erving Goffman is a favorite, but the Simpsons (of cartoon fame, not Jessica & Ashlee), Evelyn Waugh, and W.B. Yeats are also tapped. What her rant boils down to though is unsurprising: modern communication is at the root of rude behavior. Mobile phones and iPods have left us existing in our own little "bubble worlds," she says. "It used to be just CIA agents with earpieces…who regarded all the little people as irrelevant scum. Now it's nearly everybody." These self-produced bubbles make it easy for rudeness to rule. If someone forgets to hold a door or say "Thank you," it's because, Truss says, they're zoned out in their personal space, and will likely be offended if their lack of manners is pointed out. (The ruder the person, she says, the more easily offended.) Truss certainly earns many chuckles throughout her somewhat rambling musings, but her concern about society's decline is serious. To that end, she offers the words of Willy Loman's wife in Arthur Miller's most famous play on modern-day morality (and we all remember what happens in its last act): "Attention must be paid."
I found this book to be quite "on point". It is far to true that society seems to be much ruder these days.
Will send to time-traveler as part of 17 RABCK's for Catie. Please enjoy.
I think I am going to LOVE this book. Again, thank you so much for including me in 17 RABCKs for Catie.
I read this while spending the day in a hospital/waiting room; it was a good choice because I could put it down and pick it up again without losing anything. Lynne Truss has a great sense of humor, but otherwise this was just an 'okay' book for me. She is a new author for me.
A woman who was also in the waiting room asked me what I thought of the book because it was one she had been interested in reading. I had finished it by that point so I asked her if she wanted it! Now the book is with her. I explained a little about Bookcrossing. So this book is travelling again :)
It's the first time I passed a book along this way!
Released for guinaveve's Keep Them Moving Challenge.
A woman who was also in the waiting room asked me what I thought of the book because it was one she had been interested in reading. I had finished it by that point so I asked her if she wanted it! Now the book is with her. I explained a little about Bookcrossing. So this book is travelling again :)
It's the first time I passed a book along this way!
Released for guinaveve's Keep Them Moving Challenge.
