Sorry About That by Edwin L Battistella
People do bad things. They misspeak, mislead, and misbehave. They lie, cheat, steal, and kill. Often, afterward, they apologize. In Sorry About That, linguist Edwin Battistella analyzes the public apologies of presidents, politicians, entertainers, and businessmen, situating the apology within American popular culture. Battistella offers the fascinating stories behind these apologies alongside his own analysis of the language used in each. He uses these examples to demonstrate the ways in which language creates sincere or insincere apologies, why we choose to apologize or don't, and how our efforts to say we are sorry succeed or fail. Each chapter expands on a central concept or distinction that explains part of the apology process. Battistella covers memorable apologies from McDonald's and Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey and James Frey, Mel Gibson and Jane Fonda, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and many more. Moving back and forth between examples and concepts, Battistella connects actual apologies with the broader social, ethical, and linguistic principles behind them. Readers will come away from the book better consumers of apologies-and better apologizers as well.
Conditional apologies, vague apologies, apologies not accepted: Why is it so hard to say we're sorry and be done with it? With a clear eye and prose that never drags, Ed Battistella brilliantly illuminates the hidden dynamics of public apologies from the Oprah Winfrey Show to Mel Gibson's downfall and from Joe Biden's doubletalk to Woodrow Wilson's shoelace-chewing mea culpaYou won't be sorry you read this book. * David Skinner, author of The Story of Ain't: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published *
the book is wonderful reading * Haoran Mao, Discourse Studies *
the book is wonderful reading * Haoran Mao, Discourse Studies *
Edwin L. Battistella teaches linguistics and writing at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, where he has served as a dean and as interim provost. He is the author of Do You Make These Mistakes in English? (OUP, 2009), Bad Language (OUP, 2005), and The Logic of Markedness (OUP, 1996).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780199300914 |
| ISBN 10 | 0199300917 |
| Title | Sorry About That |
| Author | Edwin L Battistella |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press Inc |
| Year published | 2014-06-26 |
| Number of pages | 232 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |