L.I.A.R. the Lexicon of Intentionally Ambiguous Recommendations

by Robert J. Thornton

When your desire to write a polite recommendation letter stands in the way of telling the truth, turn to this book and you can do both. Each positive sounding remark about a person's work ethic, personality, or brains have a hidden meaning thanks to tricky phrasing and questionable punctuation. With this book, you'll never feel that you brushed over an employee's failings or that you damaged a reputation.This book is a handy way to create truthful descriptions guaranteed to amuse you, appease former employees, and let new employers draw their own conclusions,

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction

114 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Lynn Kutz]

I first discovered this book years ago when I was in the Navy and looking for creative ways of writing my performance reviews. Have since gifted copies to all HR managers of companies I work with as a contractor.

Anyone who writes performance reviews or recommendations will surely get a chuckle, and perhaps a few usable tidbits from this book.

[Dolores]

It's pretty hilarious.. Actually, it's good for anyone who may be asked to write a recommendation for someone who falls short of deserving a good one! The recommendation might seem like a good one if you're not paying attention to the clever use of adjectives, and strategically placed commas...

Cheers.

[David Elton]

Lexicon of Intentionally Ambiguous Recommendations, Robert J. Thornton. A lot of double entendres to use when recommending someone who’s incompetent. Amusing. Best read in small doses. August 25, 2021

[Caroline]

Hilarious! I didn't read the whole book, though.

[Lee Anne]

My favorite parts of this book are the introduction and forward.

[Rich Hutchinson]

Funny, and a good reference to make you laugh.

[Theodore Kinni]

Terrific--I'll never want for the perfect phrase for a recommendation letter I don't want to write again

[Jessica Stephenson]

This was a pretty funny book. An easy read, yet made me think. I may actually refer to this in the future for when I need to heap some bullshit into something or someone without ousting my true feelings on the matter at hand.