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Spinglish: The Definitive Dictionary of Deliberately Deceptive Language
Spinglish—the devious dialect of English used by professional spin doctors—is all around us. And the fact is, until you’ve mastered it, politicians and corporations (not to mention your colleagues and friends) will continue putting things over on you, and generally getting the better of you, every minute of every day—without your even knowing it.
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý However, once you perfect the art of terminological inexactitude, you’ll be the one manipulating and one-upping everyone else! And here’s the beauty Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf, authors of the New York Times semi-bestseller The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook , have compiled this handy yet astonishingly comprehensive lexicon and translation guide—a fictionary , if you will—to help you do just that. If you want to succeed in business (or politics, sports, the arts, or life in general) without really lying, this is the book for you! (Your results may vary.)
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Spinglish includes these nifty bits of spurious verbiage and over a thousand
Ìý
aesthetic procedure � face-lift
dairy nutrients � cow manure
enhanced interrogation techniques � torture
Ìý“For your convenience.â€� â€� “For our convenience.â€�
hands-on mentoring � sexual relations with a junior employee
incomplete success � failure
rightsizing � firing people
zero-tasking � doing nothing
Ìý
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý With each and every entry sourced from some of the greatest real-life language benders in the world today, you’re virtually guaranteed to have the perfectly chosen tried-and-untrue term right at the tip of your forked tongue. Wish you could nimbly sidestep a question without batting an eye? Not sure how to apologize while also . . . not apologizing? Spinglish has you covered. Simply consult this convenient, shoot-from-the-lip glossary, and before you know it, you’ll be telling it like it isn’t, it wasn’t, and it couldn’t ever have been.
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý However, once you perfect the art of terminological inexactitude, you’ll be the one manipulating and one-upping everyone else! And here’s the beauty Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf, authors of the New York Times semi-bestseller The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook , have compiled this handy yet astonishingly comprehensive lexicon and translation guide—a fictionary , if you will—to help you do just that. If you want to succeed in business (or politics, sports, the arts, or life in general) without really lying, this is the book for you! (Your results may vary.)
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Spinglish includes these nifty bits of spurious verbiage and over a thousand
Ìý
aesthetic procedure � face-lift
dairy nutrients � cow manure
enhanced interrogation techniques � torture
Ìý“For your convenience.â€� â€� “For our convenience.â€�
hands-on mentoring � sexual relations with a junior employee
incomplete success � failure
rightsizing � firing people
zero-tasking � doing nothing
Ìý
ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý With each and every entry sourced from some of the greatest real-life language benders in the world today, you’re virtually guaranteed to have the perfectly chosen tried-and-untrue term right at the tip of your forked tongue. Wish you could nimbly sidestep a question without batting an eye? Not sure how to apologize while also . . . not apologizing? Spinglish has you covered. Simply consult this convenient, shoot-from-the-lip glossary, and before you know it, you’ll be telling it like it isn’t, it wasn’t, and it couldn’t ever have been.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2015
13 people are currently reading
387 people want to read
About the author
Henry N. Beard
61Ìýbooks40ÌýfollowersHenry N. Beard (born ca. 1945) is an American humorist, one of the founders of the magazine National Lampoon and the author of several best-selling books.
Beard, a great-grandson of Vice President John C. Breckinridge, was born into a well-to-do family and grew up at the Westbury Hotel on East 69th Street in Manhattan. His relationship with his parents was cool, to judge by his quip "I never saw my mother up close."
He attended the Taft School, where he was a leader at the humor magazine, and he decided to become a humorous writer after reading Catch-22.
He then went to Harvard University from which he graduated in 1967 and joined its humor magazine, the Harvard Lampoon, which circulated nationally. Much of the credit for the Lampoon's success during the mid 1960s is given to Beard and Douglas Kenney, who was in the class a year after Beard's. In 1968, Beard and Kenney wrote the successful parody Bored of the Rings.
In 1969, Beard, Kenney and Rob Hoffman became the founding editors of the National Lampoon, which reached a monthly circulation of over 830,000 in 1974 (and the October issue of that year topped a million sales). One of Beard's short stories published there, "The Last Recall", was included in the 1973 Best Detective Stories of the Year. During the early 1970s, Beard was also in the Army Reserve, which he hated.
In 1975 the three founders cashed in on a buy-out agreement for National Lampoon; and Beard left the magazine. After an "unhappy" attempt at screenwriting, he turned to writing humorous books.
Beard, a great-grandson of Vice President John C. Breckinridge, was born into a well-to-do family and grew up at the Westbury Hotel on East 69th Street in Manhattan. His relationship with his parents was cool, to judge by his quip "I never saw my mother up close."
He attended the Taft School, where he was a leader at the humor magazine, and he decided to become a humorous writer after reading Catch-22.
He then went to Harvard University from which he graduated in 1967 and joined its humor magazine, the Harvard Lampoon, which circulated nationally. Much of the credit for the Lampoon's success during the mid 1960s is given to Beard and Douglas Kenney, who was in the class a year after Beard's. In 1968, Beard and Kenney wrote the successful parody Bored of the Rings.
In 1969, Beard, Kenney and Rob Hoffman became the founding editors of the National Lampoon, which reached a monthly circulation of over 830,000 in 1974 (and the October issue of that year topped a million sales). One of Beard's short stories published there, "The Last Recall", was included in the 1973 Best Detective Stories of the Year. During the early 1970s, Beard was also in the Army Reserve, which he hated.
In 1975 the three founders cashed in on a buy-out agreement for National Lampoon; and Beard left the magazine. After an "unhappy" attempt at screenwriting, he turned to writing humorous books.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 31, 2015
Thanks to the publisher for providing this dictionary for review.
This is a huge book, and I flipped through it reading, and laughing at some of the spins placed on the English language. Some I have heard before, some were new to me. This is a great reference to have on your shelf. I will be buying the hardback when it comes out.
This is a huge book, and I flipped through it reading, and laughing at some of the spins placed on the English language. Some I have heard before, some were new to me. This is a great reference to have on your shelf. I will be buying the hardback when it comes out.
May 28, 2015
I used to read the dictionary years ago and this book may make me pick up the habit again. Satirists Beard and Cerf have put together a collection of deliberately deceptive language that is informative and fun to read. I'll be reading this in bits and pieces until I get through it all.
Like all good satire there is plenty of truth (e.g., rightsizing for firing people, incomplete success for failure).
This book is a delight for any lover of the language or wanna be politicians or CEO's.
The book contains about 100 pages of notes at the end as to sources. There is a section at the end that provides "English to Spinglish" when you need to "spin" certain phrases. It also provides sources or uses throughout.
I received this book for free through Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ First Reads.
Like all good satire there is plenty of truth (e.g., rightsizing for firing people, incomplete success for failure).
This book is a delight for any lover of the language or wanna be politicians or CEO's.
The book contains about 100 pages of notes at the end as to sources. There is a section at the end that provides "English to Spinglish" when you need to "spin" certain phrases. It also provides sources or uses throughout.
I received this book for free through Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ First Reads.
February 5, 2019
This is a darkly humorous and disturbing dictionary of overly PC terms and purposefully deceitful phrases, some so ridiculous they'd be indecipherable without the Spinglish dictionary. The book's supertitle (if that's a word for a subtitle that comes BEFORE the real title) is "How to Succeed in Business (and Politics and Everything Else) Without Really Lying." And that pretty much sums it up.
Some gems:
"After-death care provider" –undertaker.
"Core rearrangement"—a nuclear power industry term for the explosive destruction of the core of a nuclear reactor
"Engaging the enemy on all sides"—A US Dept of Defense phrase for getting ambushed
"Permanent pre-hostility"—another great term from our DOD friends. This one rather depressingly means "peace."
"Failure to maintain clearance from the ground"—a plane crash
"Percussive maintenance"—hitting a piece of machinery until it starts working again
And perhaps my favorite: "Entrance solutions." Any guesses? Yes, those would be doors.
I do think the authors put too much of their own spin on some terms. For example, they define "thrifty" as "miserly," "stingy," and "scrooge-like." And "wetlands" as "swamps." While "thrifty" and "wetlands" can be used as euphemisms, in general usage "thrifty" and "miserly" have different meanings, and "wetlands" is a broader term than "swamp." Also, a rainforest isn't just some fancy environmentalist's way of making a jungle sound better, as the book implies. It's a scientific term for areas that sometime are jungles and sometimes not. Some of the political definitions have a fair amount of slant too. Which perhaps only reinforces the whole theme of the book.
It's a very interesting—but somewhat disheartening—book. How many ways can business execs come up with to make firing a bunch of people sound good?
Some gems:
"After-death care provider" –undertaker.
"Core rearrangement"—a nuclear power industry term for the explosive destruction of the core of a nuclear reactor
"Engaging the enemy on all sides"—A US Dept of Defense phrase for getting ambushed
"Permanent pre-hostility"—another great term from our DOD friends. This one rather depressingly means "peace."
"Failure to maintain clearance from the ground"—a plane crash
"Percussive maintenance"—hitting a piece of machinery until it starts working again
And perhaps my favorite: "Entrance solutions." Any guesses? Yes, those would be doors.
I do think the authors put too much of their own spin on some terms. For example, they define "thrifty" as "miserly," "stingy," and "scrooge-like." And "wetlands" as "swamps." While "thrifty" and "wetlands" can be used as euphemisms, in general usage "thrifty" and "miserly" have different meanings, and "wetlands" is a broader term than "swamp." Also, a rainforest isn't just some fancy environmentalist's way of making a jungle sound better, as the book implies. It's a scientific term for areas that sometime are jungles and sometimes not. Some of the political definitions have a fair amount of slant too. Which perhaps only reinforces the whole theme of the book.
It's a very interesting—but somewhat disheartening—book. How many ways can business execs come up with to make firing a bunch of people sound good?
October 26, 2017
I'm glad I got this from the library. It was okay, but not what I expected.
September 7, 2015
Spinglish: The Definitive Dictionary of Deliberately Deceptive Language was so much fun to read! This was my first venture into the mind of authors, Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf so initially, I wasn’t too sure what to expect. But within a few pages I was chuckling to myself & just knew I had to stop and get my hubby and kids involved. Our teenage daughter competes in public speaking debates and our pre-teen son just loves anything hilarious so I thought we could have some fun and even learn some new words! We spent the next week reading Spinglish at dinnertime; each of us taking turns to read out loud our favorite words and their definitions from each page. Some of the words we already knew the meaning of but it was a lot of fun to pick out the ones we didn’t and learn something new & most times extremely funny. I’m so glad I stumbled across this little gem of a book and it’s definitely one we will pick up and read again. I would highly recommend Spinglish to anyone with a good sense of humor who’s looking to learn new, fun words and their meanings. This would also make a great gift for those extreme wordsmiths in your life!
Thank you to the publishers, Blue Rider Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
Thank you to the publishers, Blue Rider Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
July 17, 2015
Spinglish: The Definitive Dictionary of Deliberately Deceptive Language as written by Henry Beard, Christopher Cerf is a dictionary for anyone who wishes to understand just what the Hell public speakers are saying.
Here, in the standard from: to and to: from formation of any language translation dictionary, is a guide to all the double talk, back handed compliments and outright lies spoken in our modern world. Although many of the terms have been around for a very long time, they are collected herein for the very fist time.
If this book doesn’t make you smile, and frown, get happy and mad, but generally make you outraged at the depths to which people (mostly politicians) will go to weasel out of telling you the truth, then there is something wrong with you.
Spinglish is a handy guide for reading the truth within the lines.
I won this book through Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.
Here, in the standard from: to and to: from formation of any language translation dictionary, is a guide to all the double talk, back handed compliments and outright lies spoken in our modern world. Although many of the terms have been around for a very long time, they are collected herein for the very fist time.
If this book doesn’t make you smile, and frown, get happy and mad, but generally make you outraged at the depths to which people (mostly politicians) will go to weasel out of telling you the truth, then there is something wrong with you.
Spinglish is a handy guide for reading the truth within the lines.
I won this book through Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.
July 22, 2015
As the political season is heats up for a presidential election a year and a half away, we are going to be bombarded with language used to persuade and perhaps mislead or even deceive us by politicians and pundits who have become “experts� in spinning. That’s the premise of a very funny book “Spinglish: The Definitive Dictionary of Deliberately Deceptive Language co-written by Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf who’s previous book “The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook� was a N.Y. Times best seller.
The book is filled with definitions of “spun� words and phrases used by spinmeisters to obfuscate the real meaning behind them. It’s the kind of book you pick up and read a few pages at a time and get few laughs. Recommended. I spoke with Chris Cerf about the book and that conversation can be heard here:
The book is filled with definitions of “spun� words and phrases used by spinmeisters to obfuscate the real meaning behind them. It’s the kind of book you pick up and read a few pages at a time and get few laughs. Recommended. I spoke with Chris Cerf about the book and that conversation can be heard here:
April 9, 2015
If you ever watched those press monkeys on TV and wondered what they really meant by all those long phrases of meaningless gibberish, this is the book for you. More funny than really educational, the book is in dictionary format, most of it spin-to-English, though there is a much smaller part that’s English-to-spin at the “end.� By far the best parts are the examples, like in the spelling bee when you say “use it I a sentence.� The new terms are substituted for their more usual counterparts in familiar clichés, some of which become incredibly hilarious. But despite the last half being just notes, it was still a long tough read, not at all what I expected. This dropped its grade a point.
February 9, 2016
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC!
This dictionary is funny, casual, and actually useful for people who want to understand the often evasive language of (mostly) businesses, politicians, and newspapers--and for people who want to use some "nuanced responses" in their own speech or writing.
I wouldn't recommend sitting down and reading this like a novel (which is what I did), unless you enjoy reading sarcastic dictionaries purely for the humor.
There are some images and some language I found objectionable.
This dictionary is funny, casual, and actually useful for people who want to understand the often evasive language of (mostly) businesses, politicians, and newspapers--and for people who want to use some "nuanced responses" in their own speech or writing.
I wouldn't recommend sitting down and reading this like a novel (which is what I did), unless you enjoy reading sarcastic dictionaries purely for the humor.
There are some images and some language I found objectionable.
June 28, 2015
I bounced back and forth between three and four stars. When I first picked the book up I was hoping for more exploration and analysis of spin before the dictionary section. They make up for it by including full references and taking the bulk of the acknowledgements pointing readers in the direction of further books that may be more in line with what I was thinking.
March 6, 2016
Although I did not read the entire thing, it is definitely an eye opener to really break down the terms that are used in our media and politics. Done with a humorous side, of course! If you are very into politics, you should find this "dictionary" quite amusing!
December 18, 2015
Some really clever definitions, but best taken a small section at a time.
February 3, 2016
Hilarious book tracking the way we don't say what we mean. Any time I want a chuckle I just open up to any page.
August 30, 2016
This is awesome. A romp through the hilarious and sobering ways that people in the public eye contort language and meaning. I highly recommend it.
November 16, 2016
A modern day "Devil's Dictionary," Spinglish's humorous take on double-edged rhetoric provides an entertaining look at the use and abuse of language.
March 6, 2016
Amusing but a lot of stuff in this dictionary is old hat.
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