Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Pop Language in Your Life, the Media, and Like . . . Whatever

Author: Leslie Savan
Publisher: Random House USA Inc
Category: Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Popular Culture, Media Studies
Book Format: Paperback

In this marvelously original book, three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Leslie Savan offers fascinating insights into why we're all talking the talk—Duh; Bring it on!; Bling; Whatever!—and what this reveals about America today. Savan traces the paths that phrases like these travel from obscure slang to pop stardom, selling everything from cars (ads for VWs, Mitsubishis, and Mercurys all pitch them as no-brainer”s) to wars (finding WMD in Iraq was to be a slam dunk”). Real people create these catchy phrases, but once media, politics, and businesses broadcast them, they burst out of our mouths as celebrity words, newly glamorous and powerful. Witty, fun, and full of thought-provoking stories about the origins of popular expressions, Slam Dunks and No-Brainers is for everyone who loves the mysteries of language.

Leslie Savan wrote a column about advertising and commercial culture for The Village Voice for thirteen years. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 1991, 1992, and 1997. In 1996 she was named one of The Top Ten Media Heroes by the Institute for Alternative Journalism. She has been a commentator for Fresh Air and has appeared on the ABC and CBS national newscasts, NPR, and The O'Reilly Factor. She has written for The New York Times, Time, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, Mademoiselle, and Salon, among other publications. Her essays have been reprinted in numerous textbooks and anthologies. Her previous book, The Sponsored Life: Ads, TV, and American Culture, is a collection of her columns.

Table Of Contents
PROLOGUE

Are We Having Fun Yet?
CHAPTER 1

Here’s the Deal
CHAPTER 2

Pop Talk Is History
CHAPTER 3

What’s Black, Then White, and Said All Over?
CHAPTER 4

Don’t Even Think About Telling Me “I Don’t Think So”: The Media, Meanness, and Me
CHAPTER 5

The Great American Yesss!
CHAPTER 6

Populist Pop and the Regular Guy
CHAPTER 7

The Community of Commitment-Centered Words
CHAPTER 8

Digital Talk in the Unit States of America
EPILOGUE

It’s Like, You Know, the End
Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index

Permissions Acknowledgments
About Leslie Savan
Leslie Savan wrote a column about advertising and commercial culture for The Village Voice for thirteen years. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 1991, 1992, and 1997. In 1996 she was named one of "The Top Ten Media Heroes" by the Institute for Alternative Journalism. She has been a commentator for Fresh Air and has appeared on the ABC and CBS national newscasts, NPR, and The O'Reilly Factor. She has written for The New York Times, Time, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, Mademoiselle, and Salon, among other publications. Her essays have been reprinted in numerous textbooks and anthologies. Her previous book, The Sponsored Life: Ads, TV, and American Culture, is a collection of her columns.

(BK-9780375702426)

SKU BK-9780375702426
Barcode # 9780375702426
Brand Random House USA Inc
Artist / Author Leslie Savan
Shipping Weight 0.2600kg
Shipping Width 0.140m
Shipping Height 0.020m
Shipping Length 0.200m
Assembled Length 20.300m
Assembled Height 1.900m
Assembled Width 13.500m
Type Paperback

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