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Um. . . Um. . . Um. .
by
Michael Erard (Goodreads Author)
This original, entertaining, and surprising book investigates verbal blunders: what they are, what they say about those who make them, and how and why we've come to judge them."Um..." is about howyou really speak, and why it's normal for your everyday speech to be filled with errors-about one in every ten words. In this charming, engaging account of language in the wild, l...more
ebook, 320 pages
Published
August 21st 2007
by Pantheon Books
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Who knew that a book about speech errors could be so entertaining? But there are many laughs to be had from the often hilarious mistakes that linguist Michael Erard uses to illustrate his theories. I am still giggling over the poor newscaster who said “Also keeping an eye on the Woodstock Rock Festival was New York’s governor, Rockin Nelsenfeller.” Ahem. But this book is far more than a collection of spoonerisms, malapropisms and eggcorns. Erhard makes some fascinating arguments that speech erro...more
pop linguistics = HELLS YEAH.
Nov 07, 2007
Elizabeth
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who talks
As someone who is a lover of language and the varied psychosomatic nuances behind it, I was expecting to fly through this one. I was slightly disappointed. It was mainly a review of all the research that has been done verbal disfluencies, and the general consensus among all the experts far and wide is (drum roll please)...that no one really knows what's going on behind our ums, slips of the tongue, and other varied blunders we make on a daily basis. Erard did at least debunk the idea of the Freu...more
1 like · like · see review
Ah, verbal communication -- my one true enemy.
Such distaste for "uh" and "um" isn't merely a judgment about a person's speech; it's a deeper judgment about how much control he should have over his self-presentation and his identity. Not surprisingly, the battle against "uh" and "um" figures prominently in our lives with language at school and at work.Oh yes, my tendency to say "uh"/"um" during class presentations. Took a damn Forensics class in college in addition to the required GE Speech clas...more
Jul 30, 2010
Ensiform
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
language
The history of verbal gaffes and gaffers, from Reverend Spooner to George W. Bush. He discusses Freud, to whom all slips were a sign of hidden neurosis; Rudolf Meringer, who put a linguistic spin on blunders; the history of the sound "um"; the Toastmasters and their strictures on eliminating all verbal fillers; the many modern psycholinguistic studies of verbal slips; Mrs.Malaprop; and many others.
The book's thus rather wide in scope, but its thesis can loosely be summed as: speech errors are a...more
The book's thus rather wide in scope, but its thesis can loosely be summed as: speech errors are a...more
Reading this book is like watching a man look for his keys under the streetlight because it's the one place he can see. The topics within the category of verbal blunders are a bit random because Erard follows the research and linguistics has only recently become something remotely resembling a science. Before now, it has been a mix of armchair theorizing, quirky passions, and dominance by one or two figures that have taken all the air out of the field. Somewhat like Freud's dominance of psycholo...more
I thought this was going to be more interesting. I like linguistics and think the field is extremely interesting, but I was more or less bored by this book. Part of that is not the author's fault because I was under the impression that Freudian slips were "real." Unfortunately, Freud and his theory that slips in speaking reveal a person's hidden thoughts/desires has been disproved. So the part of the book that promises to explain to me what they (the slips) mean is mostly about the brain and how...more
"Um..." is a fairly dense book, introducing readers to the history of linguistics with a focus on the study of verbal "bloopers" through the years. I didn't enjoy it much. Oddly for a book on such a specific-sounding topic, it suffers from lack of organizational focus; the author separates out several categories of verbal slip, but attempts to sort his chapters by ill-defined historical era rather than by the categories, even though he focuses on one category at a time for long sections. It was...more
Not enough esoteric linguistic facts! I also dislike the cover (yes, I am judgmental and judge books by their covers) and title, since it seems to appeal to idiots.
This engaging book discusses the variety of verbal errors we make and the various studies that have been done about the reasons behind them. They include not only those place-fillers like uh and um, but also sentence stutters such as "I said, I said that we weren't..." and sentence correction such as "We went, some of us went to the game." It talks about the famous (the Reverend Spooner as well as George W) and the real versus the legend. Studies range from the psychological to the pedagogical a...more
May 29, 2012
Natasha
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
psychology
More of a history of verbal slips and how people view them than how slips occur and what they mean for language.
I was excited to read this book. I have recently gotten interested in how the brain works and how brain structure can be affected by use, disuse, and/or trauma. Language is a function of the brain. This book provides a few theories, although nothing definite, on what causes verbal slips (including the old favorite Freudian slips) and what they mean for language. There appears to be no...more
I was excited to read this book. I have recently gotten interested in how the brain works and how brain structure can be affected by use, disuse, and/or trauma. Language is a function of the brain. This book provides a few theories, although nothing definite, on what causes verbal slips (including the old favorite Freudian slips) and what they mean for language. There appears to be no...more
2 likes · like · see review
You speak between 7,500 and 22,500 words per day and 1800 of them involve a verbal blunder. You have a slip of the tongue every 7 minutes. You "um" a lot. You make some sort of error on average once every 10 words. It's going to get worse as you get older.
This is likely why you spend all your time trolling around the internet, rather than engaged in those old fashioned talking conversations with people in the same room.
Take heart, fair introvert! Um: Slips, Stumbles and Verbal Blunders and What...more
This is likely why you spend all your time trolling around the internet, rather than engaged in those old fashioned talking conversations with people in the same room.
Take heart, fair introvert! Um: Slips, Stumbles and Verbal Blunders and What...more
This is a survey of different attitudes towards a variety of verbal blunders. Verbal blunders include hestitations, like "um" and "uh", starting sentences over (reconstructions), slips of the tongue (Freudian and otherwise), malapropisms ("a nice derangement of epitaphs"), and a variety of other ways of misspeaking. It begins with an account of Freud's approach to slips, and the reaction among his contemporaries. The best historical anecdote in the book is the account of gentlemen of Freud's era...more
First book finished this year!
I feel like I know more about slips and disfluencies than I ever expected (and possibly wanted) to know. Among the more fascinating bits, it's interesting to find that slips occur in predictable ways—that is, our slips are "patterned according to the structure of the language." I always thought slips were random and totally the product of the speaker's idiosyncratic mind. But no! No wonder so many linguists study verbal blunders. Secondly, the reason we slip is beca...more
I feel like I know more about slips and disfluencies than I ever expected (and possibly wanted) to know. Among the more fascinating bits, it's interesting to find that slips occur in predictable ways—that is, our slips are "patterned according to the structure of the language." I always thought slips were random and totally the product of the speaker's idiosyncratic mind. But no! No wonder so many linguists study verbal blunders. Secondly, the reason we slip is beca...more
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. However, as a disclaimer, I have an undergraduate degree in linguistics. That said, it is not so academic that it would not be interesting and fun for somebody outside of the field. My background merely meant that I was able to finish it in two days rather than spending a longer amount of time on it. For me, it was a quick, entertaining read.
My favorite part was a pleasant surprise. One of my favorite linguistics professors is mentioned and her research discussed...more
My favorite part was a pleasant surprise. One of my favorite linguistics professors is mentioned and her research discussed...more
Wow - this was really interesting. It confirmed my suspicions that the "ums" and "uhs" in our speech actually do have a purpose. It covered everything, too--Freud, speech development in children, robots, President Bush...
One complaint: I couldn't keep track of the difference between a "knows better" error and a "doesn't know better" error. I think they could have been explained better, and they didn't really contribute anything to my understanding of speech, anyway.
One complaint: I couldn't keep track of the difference between a "knows better" error and a "doesn't know better" error. I think they could have been explained better, and they didn't really contribute anything to my understanding of speech, anyway.
A very scholarly text that delves into the linguistic and psychological meaning behind language disfluency. (Yes, I learned that word from this book.) We all make errors, use space fillers (um, uh) hourly. I enjoyed the chapter on Spoonerisms (With this wing, I thee red) and on current thought. The chapters that went deeper--there is not really a correlation to Freudian slips-- were too much of a throwback to my university days and transformational grammar. The best things I learned: 1. If you h...more
I was hoping for more really fun blunders. LOL There were some, but this was mostly a book exploring the history of verbal blunders and the history of how we study them. Interesting but not quite as fun as I was hoping!
type of verbal mistakes,language is processed a phrase at a time, children's verbal blunders, prescriptivism against saying um and the rise of radio/recorded audio, inside a Toastmasters convention.
Really interesting look at the subconscious formation of spoken language and how the subconscious frequently gets it wrong.
liked this book, but is a little repetitive. After reading this book, i now know why i sometimes say the things i do.
a trifle dry. also, i'm annoyed by his desire to call filled pauses pause fillers (why?!).
Some entertaining bits, but I mostly skimmed it. Nothing much new or particularly exciting.
Mostly a book on the history of the study of verbal blunders, it didn't really meet my expectations. I expected more elucidation on the meaning - either syntactic, psychological or psycholinguistic - of verbal mistakes. As a prolific gaffe-r myself, I suppose I was looking for insight.
Interesting throughout, the last three or four chapters seemed a bit meandering and unfocused, as though they were tacked on or sent to the publisher on deadline instead of highly polished. Or maybe I was getting c...more
Interesting throughout, the last three or four chapters seemed a bit meandering and unfocused, as though they were tacked on or sent to the publisher on deadline instead of highly polished. Or maybe I was getting c...more
No linguistic stone was left unturned in this very well-researched book about our pauses and gaffes when we speak. At times, it felt too stretched out though and I had to make myself keep reading. However, the topic itself intrigued me.
fairly interesting
Way too technical for me - I felt like I was back in graduate school!
It sat on my nightstand for months, because it was never the book I wanted to read. When I made any progress at all, it was prompted by a desperate desire to finish it finally.
But life is too short to finish books for the sake of finishing them.
It was a good idea, but I would have preferred a New Yorker-size article over this full-length book.
But life is too short to finish books for the sake of finishing them.
It was a good idea, but I would have preferred a New Yorker-size article over this full-length book.
We are all disfluent more often than we realize, but what governs our need to resort to "um" or "uh" or any number of fillers? And why do we so often slip (aka make a Freudian slip) when we really know exactly what we want to say? The author attempts to reveal such, er, verbal missteps that creep into any type of speech.
May 03, 2008
Emily
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
nonfiction,
couldn-t-finish
Fun examples but just didn't finish it. Since my undergraduate degree is in this field I was pretty much reading for the examples he found. It was fun but not something I felt like I had to finish.
However, if you are interested in this type of thing and didn't major in it I would recommend it.
Left off on page 29.
However, if you are interested in this type of thing and didn't major in it I would recommend it.
Left off on page 29.
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Feb 23, 2009 07:01am
Feb 23, 2009 07:05am