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Gobbledygook
 
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Gobbledygook (Hardcover)

by Don Watson (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
Price: £11.69 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 200 pages
  • Publisher: Atlantic Books (2 Sep 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1843543567
  • ISBN-13: 978-1843543565
  • Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 13.8 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 75,363 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #8 in  Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Linguistics > Historical & Comparative Linguistics > Slang & Jargon
    #22 in  Books > Reference > Language > Slang & Jargon

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Product Description

Age, 'Books of the Year'

'Witty, excoriating and horrifying… should be every politician’s, academic’s, businessman’s, journalist’s and bureaucrat’s choice for book of the year.'


Australian

‘Obliterates the vernacular vandals among journalists, academics, politicians, and business people with deadly aim.’
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82% buy the item featured on this page:
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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars refreshing rant, 13 Nov 2004
Hopefully, in terms of Watson's implementation of a framework of key skills deliverables impacting on key stage communication outcomes... Well, you get the picture of what Watson is railing against. Defending language sounds conservative, but Watson is asking for clarity rather than pedantic obedience to the rules of grammar.
The book seems to be selling widely: let us look out for people using more straightforward language to allow others to understand what they are up to...
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Meets its strategic objectives, 9 Feb 2008
By Kevin Clarke "kevin17566" (Birmingham UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Gobbledygook: How Cliches, Sludge and Management-speak are Strangling Our Public Language (Paperback)
'Gobbledygook' is a timely tirade against the pervasive and pernicious influence of 'management speak' in all areas of public life. Through carefully selected examples, the author shows how this hollow, sterile 'language' has infected education, politics and the workplace. It will please anyone whose heart sinks on hearing a phrase like "We are committed to the roll-out of value-added programmes going forward."

This kind of analysis isn't new but Watson, himself an escapee from the jargon-infested world of academia, writes with passion and humour, devoid of the smug, self-righteousness that occasionally creeps into other authors' thoughts on the subject.

He exposes the essential vacuousness of much of this language, its total absence of character. There's no place for strangeness, beauty or poetry in it, just a stultifying deadness. So the next time your boss asks you to 'action' something, say "I certainly won't be ACTIONING it but I don't mind DOING it."
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12 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great stuff, 7 Oct 2004
By A Customer
I am sure it was not his mission to seamlessly negotiate interdependent services so that he could endeavor to authoritatively integrate emerging catalysts for change to meet his customer's needs.....
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