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Shoot the Puppy: A Survival Guide to the Curious Jargon of Modern Life Hardcover – 31 Aug. 2006

by Tony Thorne (Author)

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Are you a bobo or a wombat? Have you ever been tempted to open the kimono or kick dead whales up the beach? Have you been touched by re-enchantment or threatened by infobia? If your answer to any of these questions is 'I'm not sure' or, indeed, 'What are you talking about?', then you definitely need a copy of Shoot the Puppy. Amusing and informative, it guides the reader through the ever-growing heap of contemporary jargon from around the English-speaking world, showing where it comes from, what it means, and what it tells us about the contemporary world and our attitudes to it.

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About the Author

Tony Thorne is Head of the Language Centre at King's College, London, and a widely respected authority on language and modern culture. He is the author of Bloomsbury's Dictionary of Modern Slang (2003) 'One of the most infuriatingly addictive dictionaries ever produced' Evening Standard.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin (31 Aug. 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0140515801
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140515800
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.6 x 2.6 x 20.7 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 2,566,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 547 in Slang & Idiom Dictionaries
- 937 in Slang & Jargon Reference
- 3,443 in Historical & Comparative Linguistics

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If you work in 'corporate land' you'll love this

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 10 September 2006

Verified Purchase

'Shoot the Puppy' is a great book to dip into with some truely excellent examples of the mangling of the English language by business in an effort to provide even more dramatic illustations of how they are 'thinking out of the box'

What really makes this good is that you just don't get the explanation of what it means ('Kicking a dead whale up the beach') but also explanation of where it did, or might have come from. I have to say that there is black undercurrent to some of the terms - try working out 'proctocracy' ... and I really liked COU (Centre of the Universe). This will make you laugh our loud - and grimace at the same time and is as pointed as Dilbert. Cubicle monkeys will love this celebration of corporate life ..

8 people found this helpful

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C. M. Perkins

A reimagining of our person-centred communications

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 17 September 2006

This isn't a book from some `cubicle monkey' who's compiled a list of office buzz words. Tony Thorne is Head of the Language Centre at King's College, London and he has written an authoratitive and entertaining guide to modern lingo.

Yes, there's a lot of management-speak in here, but that's not all. There's plenty to do with chavs, blogs, bling, urban culture and quite a few TV/media references. However, it doesn't include any texting abbreviations - if that's what you're looking for.

After a short introduction, the book is much like a dictionary. Each entry has a definition and an explanation of usage, sometimes origin, and references to other terms or anecdotes about where the term has been used. At the back there's an extensive glossary, which includes hundreds of terms that don't appear in the main text - so it's pretty comprehensive. It's a great book for dipping into or looking up something you're curious about - doesn't have to be a cover-to-cover read.

My main interest was in the management-speak. I found the 1970s origin of `think outside the box' and some new terms - like how `thoughtshower' has replaced `brainstorming' for the ultra-politically correct. I was a little disappointed that a couple of terms I often hear (use, even!) aren't included - like `ducks in a row' and `square the circle'. But the book never sets out to be a complete lexicon.

The book is a distinctly British compilation, which is great, but there are lots of terms we've imported from the US (which, until this book came along, you could argue were not proper words, like bulletizing!). Most of these seem to relate to technology development, but there are others from everyday life.

What I was most surprised about was the inclusion in the glossary of terms that have been around so long/used so much, I wouldn't consider them jargon - like `bottom line', `moving the goalposts' and `moonlighting' - maybe that just says something about my use of language.

All in all, this is a really compelling book - to discover some new terms, cringe at the ones you know you use, and laugh at the sheer stupidity of how we sometimes communicate with one another.

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Shoot the Puppy: A Survival Guide to the Curious Jargon of Modern Life Hardcover – 31 Aug. 2006

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