Short Cuts : A Guide to Oaths, Ring Tones, Ransom Notes, Famous Last Words, and Other Forms of Minimalist Communication

Our everyday lives are inevitably touched--and immeasurably enriched--by an extraordinary variety of miniature forms of verbal communication, from classified ads to street signs, and from yesterday's graffito to tomorrow's headline. Celebrating our long history of compact speech, Short Cuts offers a well-researched and vibrantly written account of this unsung corner of the linguistic world, inspiring a new appreciation of the wondrously varied forms of our briefest exchanges. Alexander Humez, Nicholas Humez, and Rob Flynn shed light here on an ever-growing field of minimalist genres, ranging from the bank robbery note to the billboard, from the curse hurled from a car window (or the Senate floor) to the suicide note, and from the ghost-word to the ring tone. The book is divided into ten thematic sections, as varied as "In the Dictionary" (discussing such topics as Sniglets, Mountweazels, and the Wiktionary), "In and Out of Trouble" (error messages, weasel words, the pre-nup), and "On the Lam" (ransom notes, wanted posters, portraits parlés ). The authors look at the comic strip's maladicta balloon and the dinner-interrupter's robocalls, the advice column and the obit, and the many ways your personal appearance tells us who you are, from the message on your gimme cap to the tattoo with your S.O.'s name on your ankle. Uncovering the elegance, the humor, and the unspoken implications in these fleeting communications, this book provides a satisfying thoroughness and an abundance of connections that unravel how the oath became the swearword and the calling card salver turned into the Facebook wall. For readers who love language and enjoy rummaging through the cultural baggage that comes with it, Short Cuts gathers an engaging sampler of the most delightful and cogent--and above all brief--forms of contemporary English. Contents......Page 8 Preface: A Quick Tour of the Park......Page 10 1 In the Eye of the Beholder: What’s Your Sign?......Page 18 2 In the Dictionary: The Lexicographers Have Spoken......Page 44 3 By the Great Crikes!: Oaths Both Sacred and Profane......Page 68 4 On or About Your Person: The Talk of the Territories of the Self......Page 92 5 On the Lam: The World of Word Crime......Page 120 6 In the News: All That’s Fit to Print, and Then Some......Page 146 7 On the Phone: Your Call Is Important 2 Us......Page 170 8 In the Mail: From SVBE to SWAK......Page 194 9 In and Out of Trouble: Warnings, Excuses, and Remedial Work......Page 218 10 In the End: Last Words......Page 238 Acknowledgments......Page 266 Bibliography......Page 268 A......Page 292 B......Page 293 C......Page 294 D......Page 296 E......Page 297 F......Page 298 H......Page 299 I......Page 300 K......Page 301 L......Page 302 M......Page 303 N......Page 304 P......Page 306 Q......Page 307 R......Page 308 S......Page 309 T......Page 311 W......Page 312 Z......Page 313 Our everyday lives are inevitably touched--and immeasurably enriched--by an extraordinary variety of miniature forms of verbal communication, from classified ads to street signs, and from yesterday's graffito to tomorrow's headline. Celebrating our long history of compact speech, Short Cuts offers a well-researched account of this unsung corner of the linguistic world, inspiring a new appreciation of the wondrously varied forms of our briefest exchanges. The authors shed light on an ever-growing field of minimalist genres, ranging from the bank robbery note to the billboard, from the curse hurled from a car window to the suicide note, and from the ghost-word to the ring tone. The authors look at the comic strip's maledicta balloon and the dinner-interrupter's robocalls, the advice column and the obit, and the many ways your personal appearance tells us who you are, from the message on your baseball cap to the tattoo on your ankle.--From publisher description. Presents a history of compact speech, gathering samples of brief-forms of contemporary English from the bank robbery note and billboards to curse words and ringtones.