Do you ever leave work wondering whether all of the words exchanged between you and your colleagues in emails and meetings actually had any meaning? You spend the day touching base and networking, workshopping and impacting, strategizing and implementing, going forward with your key performance indicators. No wonder you are exhausted when you leave the office! Even as English spreads around the globe, the language itself is shrinking. Our vocabularies are increasingly trimmed of subtlety and obscure words are forbidden unless they qualify as economic or business jargon. The constant pressure in our society to be efficient and productive is working like a noose around the neck of the English language. Don Watson is one of Australia's foremost writers and intellectuals. In Death Sentences, he takes up the fight against the pestilence of bullet points, the scourge of buzzwords, and the dearth of verbs in public discourse. He encourages us to wage war against the personal mission statement and the Powerpoint essay and to take back our language from the corporate wordsmiths and marketeers. BACKCOVER: Praise for Don Watson’s Death Sentences: “Don Watson has written a fine and necessary book. Any citizen who neglects to read it does so at his or her peril.” –Lewis H. Lapham, editor of Harper’s Magazine "[a] marvelous polemic..." —forbes.com “…captures the powerlessness and frustration we feel when confronted by meaningless words delivered with authority.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review “Watson makes an eloquent, elegant, and sometimes scathing case for taking back language from those who would trip it of all color and emotion and, therefore, of all meaning. —Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist) “…many lessons and insights in this book…” —Leigh Buchanan, Harvard Business Review “[Watson is] always clear and precise, even when exposing the verbal pollution that passes for wisdom in the public realm.” –Toronto Star

    English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar."James D. NicollOrganized alphabetically for easy reference, A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi" is an accessible lexicon of foreign words and phrases used in English, containing everything from aficionado (Spanish) to zeitgeist (German). Inside you'll find translations, definitions, origins, and a descriptive timeline of each item's evolution. Entries include:À la carte: from the card or of the menu (French) Fiasco: complete failure (Italian) Dungarees: thick cotton cloth/overalls (Hindi) Diaspora: dispersion (Greek) Smorgasbord: bread and butter (Swedish) Cognoscenti: those who know (Italian) Compos mentis: having mastery of one's mind; with it (Latin)Attractively packaged with black and white illustrations, this whimsical yet authoritative book is a great gift for any etymologically fascinated individual. Use this book to reacquaint yourself with the English language, and you'll be compos mentis in no time.

    Updated explanations of the "sins" of interpretation teach sound grammatical, lexical, cultural, theological, and historical Bible study practices.

    and Japan learn Japanese successfully.Japanese has two basic writing systems, hiragana and katakana, in addition to the one that uses Chinese characters or Kanji. This handy book teaches you a new mnemonics—based method to read and write the basic 92 hiragana and katakana characters.Memorable picture mnemonics help you to learn the characters by associating their shapes and sounds with combinations of images and English words already familiar to you.Clear examples and entertaining exercises offer opportunities to read, write, use and practice all 46 basic hiragana and 46 basic katakana characters, plus the remaining kana that stand for more complex sounds.Polish your knowledge with word searches, crossword puzzles, fill–in–the–blanks, timed recognition quizzes, and other interesting activities.The CD–ROM allows you to print out your own flash cards (featuring the same mnemonic images taught in the book) to help you review and practice, even while you're on the go.

    And through CODE, we see how this ingenuity and our very human compulsion to communicate have driven the technological innovations of the past two centuries. Using everyday objects and familiar language systems such as Braille and Morse code, author Charles Petzold weaves an illuminating narrative for anyone who’s ever wondered about the secret inner life of computers and other smart machines. It’s a cleverly illustrated and eminently comprehensible story—and along the way, you’ll discover you’ve gained a real context for understanding today’s world of PCs, digital media, and the Internet. No matter what your level of technical savvy, CODE will charm you—and perhaps even awaken the technophile within.

    As the title suggests, 'Motherfoclóir' takes an irreverent, pun-friendly and contemporary approach to the Irish language. The translations are expanded on and arranged into broad categories that allow interesting connections to be made, and sprinkled with anecdotes and observations about Irish and Ireland itself, as well as language in general. The author includes stories about his own relationship with Irish, and how it fits in with the most important events in his life. This is a book for all lovers of the quirks of language.

    Yet one important lesson never seemed to sink in: how to communicate comfortably with the French, even when you speak their language. In The Bonjour Effect Jean-Benoît and Julie chronicle the lessons they learned after they returned to France to live, for a year, with their twin daughters. They offer up all the lessons they learned and explain, in a book as fizzy as a bottle of the finest French champagne, the most important aspect of all: the French don't communicate, they converse. To understand and speak French well, one must understand that French conversation runs on a set of rules that go to the heart of French culture. Why do the French like talking about "the decline of France"? Why does broaching a subject like money end all discussion? Why do the French become so aroused debating the merits and qualities of their own language? Through encounters with school principals, city hall civil servants, gas company employees, old friends and business acquaintances, Julie and Jean-Benoît explain why, culturally and historically, conversation with the French is not about communicating or being nice. It's about being interesting. After reading The Bonjour Effect, even readers with a modicum of French language ability will be able to hold their own the next time they step into a bistro on the Left Bank.

    Kamus Indonesia Inggris: An Indonesian-English Dictionary, 3rd edition.

    Copy veteran Constance Hale is on a mission to make creative communication, both the lyrical and the unlawful, an option for everyone.With its crisp, witty tone, Sin and Syntax covers grammar’s ground rules while revealing countless unconventional syntax secrets (such as how to use—Gasp!—interjections or when to pepper your prose with slang) that make for sinfully good writing. Discover how to:*Distinguish between words that are “pearls” and words that are “potatoes”* Avoid “couch potato thinking” and “commitment phobia” when choosing verbs* Use literary devices such as onomatopoeia, alliteration, and metaphor (and understand what you're doing)Everyone needs to know how to write stylish prose—students, professionals, and seasoned writers alike. Whether you’re writing to sell, shock, or just sing, Sin and Syntax is the guide you need to improve your command of the English language.

    Instructional video/workbook for learning American Sign Language.

    The last word on the right word includes new synonyms, new slang and colloquial expressions, new technical terms, and more.

    This compact volume offers an integrated guide to the major grammatical concepts needed for writing and speaking Swedish.

    What is good English, and why do we need it? The Queen's English shows how the English language, used properly, has great power to instruct, move and entertain people, but used incorrectly, can lead to a lack of clarity and confusion. This book informs in a light-hearted way, reminding readers how to use the basics of grammar, punctuation and spelling, as well as further teaching them new tips and tricks of style, rhetoric, vocabulary and the use of foreign phrases, to give their writing and speech a stylish and impressive flair. The book also shows the perils of using language incorrectly, offering extremely (if unintentionally) humorous examples of where bad English can cause one thing to mean something entirely different! Authoritative yet entertaining, and illustrated with pithy drawings, this is the ideal book for anyone who strives for clear, stylish and accurate communication.

    Austin was one of the leading philosophers of the twentieth century. The William James Lectures presented Austin's conclusions in the field to which he directed his main efforts on a wide variety of philosophical problems. These talks became the classic How to Do Things with Words.For this second edition, the editors have returned to Austin's original lecture notes, amending the printed text where it seemed necessary. Students will find the new text clearer, and, at the same time, more faithful to the actual lectures. An appendix contains literal transcriptions of a number of marginal notes made by Austin but not included in the text. Comparison of the text with these annotations provides new dimensions to the study of Austin's work.

    It is not a simplified study, but a selective grammar that points out many time-saving short cuts.Constantly drawing comparisons with English construction, it covers all of the important points in French grammar (verb forms and tenses, parts of speech, negative sentences, possessives, partitive construction, etc.) fully and logically, and with refreshing clarity. It was created for those who prefer the phrase approach, and all grammatical points are illustrated with phrases and sentences that you can incorporate directly into your working vocabulary. Many of the discussions include a list of common expressions that use the rule under study.In addition to the grammar text itself, there are several unusual features of great value to anyone who wants to build a French vocabulary: a section on common word-endings and their French equivalents, for example, and a 50-page lit of French-English cognates.This grammar does not assume any previous knowledge either of grammatical terms or of French grammar. English grammatical terms are explained in a separate section and all discussion begins with essentials and works up from there. Use it as an introduction to grammar, for independent class courses, with phrase courses, as a refresher, or for beginning self-study.