Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody
Rudeness of the World Today, or Six
Good Reasons to Stay Home and
Bolt the Door by Lynne Truss
Talk To The Hand
Editorial Reviews Amazon.comLynne Truss is the pundit of pet
peeves. Shes taken on the ignorance of basic grammar with Eats,
Shoots & Leaves, now she bravely rallies against the abysmal state of
manners. And while she uses the Jerry Springer-esque phrase of talk to
the hand as her title, its obvious shed like to have snarkily dubbed it
Learn Some Effing Manners People!--only shes too polite to do so. (It
should be noted that while shes shocked by 6-year-olds using the f -
word, shes hopeful that its so overused that itll soon sink into
obsolescence.) To hammer across her points on politesse, Truss pulls
quotations from an astonishing range of sources. Sociologist Erving
Goffman is a favorite, but the Simpsons (of cartoon fame, not Jessica &
Ashlee), Evelyn Waugh, and W.B. Yeats are also tapped. What her rant
boils down to though is unsurprising: modern communication is at the
root of rude behavior. Mobile phones and iPods have left us existing in
our own little bubble worlds, she says. It used to be just CIA agents with
earpieces…who regarded all the little people as irrelevant scum. Now its
nearly everybody. These self-produced bubbles make it easy for rudeness
to rule. If someone forgets to hold a door or say Thank you, its because,
Truss says, theyre zoned out in their personal space, and will likely be
offended if their lack of manners is pointed out. (The ruder the person,
she says, the more easily offended.) Truss certainly earns many
chuckles throughout her somewhat rambling musings, but her concern
about societys decline is serious. To that end, she offers the words of
Willy Lomans wife in Arthur Millers most famous play on modern-day
morality (and we all remember what happens in its last act): Attention
must be paid.--Erica Jorgensen
A Note from Lynne Truss Dear Amazon customer and fellow stickler,
There’s an odd thing I’m finding about my new book, Talk to the Hand.
The moment I start describing it to people (Basically, it’s about the
rudeness of everyday life – ), they jump straight in with stories about all
the rudeness they’ve encountered in the past ten years. When I was
trying to tell people about punctuation, engaging their attention was a
victory. Well, not this time. And another thing! they say, banging the table.
What about cell phones? What about cold callers? I make a feeble stab
at outlining my six good reasons to stay home and bolt the door, also my
theory of the alienation of modern life, which is that fundamentally we
expect to be met half-way in our dealings with strangers and are
continually shocked that this courtesy no longer pertains – but who am I
kidding? I never get further than the first good reason (the decline of
please, thank you, and excuse me) because people are agreeing so
vehemently, and I’m saying Absolutely and You’re right and Actually, some
of this is in the book. The thing is: there is nothing original in being against
rudeness. Everyone is against rudeness. In fact, very, very rude people
object to it strongly. But why does it matter to us so much? Are we so
scared of other people? Why do we spend so much of our time saying,
Oh, that’s so RUDE? All I can say is, you could find out from reading the
book! But if youd rather not, best wishes to all sticklers.
Your special pal,
Lynne Truss
The Lynne Truss Collection
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: 2006 Calendar
Making the Cat Laugh
Personal Review: Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness
of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt
the Door by Lynne Truss
Talk To The Hand. I just read the review because I bought it for a co-
worker who was having difficulties with a client.....She states that she is
enjoying it. Thank you for the opportunity to purchase books this way. I
love it...
I am a book-alcholic and love bargins.......
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