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Gobbledygook (Hardcover)

by Don Watson (Author)

4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter's Guide by Brian Fugere
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On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt
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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: 570,448 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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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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	91% buy the item featured on this page: Gobbledygook 4.7 out of 5 stars (3) �11.69
	9% buy Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter's Guide 4.0 out of 5 stars (1) �9.09

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)

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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars refreshing rant, 13 Nov 2004

By	"rainerbroemer" - See all my reviews

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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2 of 2 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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