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Holding the Line Against 'Junk English'
n organization reports “substantial growth.” A commentator talks about a “myopic” government policy. A CEO asks for reports “on a daily basis.” What do they all have in common? They’re all guilty of debasing the English language, according to Ken Smith. Smith’s new book, Junk English, gleefully exposes the atrocities that have become a part of everyday language, especially among professional communicators.
Smith is a communicator himself, with a degree in Communications from Rowan University. Since his first book was published in 1986, Smith has dissected everything from classroom films of the 1950s and 1960s to the Bible.
“I just got tired of yelling at the TV every time I heard something sloppy, pretentious or misleading”
Ken Smith, Author
So why is his latest effort a defense of English? “I’m not a grammarian or a linguist,” Smith says. “I just got tired of yelling at the TV every time I heard something sloppy, pretentious or misleading.”
With a size and format similar to Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style, Junk English alphabetically catalogs linguistic sins from Abstract Adjectives to Warfare English, each illustrated with wincing effectiveness with real-life examples. “The best way to defeat junk English is to laugh at it,” says Smith. “I wanted to write a book that was small, friendly, happy and fun – something that people would actually read and enjoy.”
Fighting Flab
While his book takes a lighthearted approach, Smith says that junk English has serious consequences. When “growth” can’t stand on its own and needs the Parasitic Intensifyer “substantial” to carry any weight, an upward, endless spiral of hype has begun. When an important-sounding Artificial Vocabulary word like “myopic” edges out “shortsighted,” concepts become harder to grasp and understanding suffers. When a “Fat-ass Phrase” like “on a daily basis” replaces “daily,” language becomes flabby and less effective. Worst of all, says Smith, is the twisting of language to deliberately hide the truth. “It’s scary how many people feed their families that way.”
There’s plenty of blame to go around for what Smith sees as an epidemic of bad English. “Corporate cultures reward employees who try to sound smart by sounding important. The government and the military use euphemisms to camouflage disagreeable truths. Reporters use polysyllabic words to try to elevate mundane writing.”
Smith singles out public relations and advertising copywriters as the worst offenders. “By inflating what’s average and diminishing what’s important, PR and advertising are digging themselves into a pit,” he says. “By debasing the language, you’re making people more superficial. They can’t grasp things anymore – they just need more and more stimulation for the messages to get through. It’s an escalating cycle. The language PR and advertising people use is like bacteria. When the hosts become immune, you have to mutate English even more to infect them.”
Smith’s advice for breaking that cycle? For those on the receiving end of junk English, “Abominations will continue until we raise our hands in unison and say, ‘What the hell does that mean?’” For those who dish it out, “Just say no. Junk English is not inevitable. We made it. We can make it go away.”
To read examples of junk English, or to send Ken Smith some that you’ve spotted – or maybe even created – visit www.blastbooks.com.
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