From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Talking Right
Talking Right
Talking Right discourse in the U.S. today has been shaped heavily by
conservatives. According to Nunberg, ordinary words
like values, freedom, patriotism, and indeed liberal itself
have acquired connotations that conservatives favor and
that even allegedly liberal newspapers like The New York
Times and The Washington Post take for granted. Nunberg
contends that conservatives have used these terms to
paint a picture of elite liberals out of touch with the val-
ues of mainstream, middle-class Americans. This stereo-
First edition cover type, which Nunberg considers inaccurate, is nonetheless
Author(s) Geoffrey Nunberg so firmly entrenched in popular consciousness that
Republicans need only mention a word like elite to conju-
Cover artist Tom Brown re up the image of a stuffy, out-of-touch liberal.
Country USA Democratic politicians have tried to reclaim some of
these terms, such as when presidential candidate John
Language English
Kerry styled his 2004 campaign "a celebration of Ameri-
Publisher Perseus Books Group can values." But such efforts are ineffective, Nunberg ar-
gues, because they do little to unhinge the powerful qua-
Publication date July 2006
si-populist narrative that conservatives have developed
Media type Print (Hardcover) over several decades. Nunberg calls on Democrats to cre-
Pages 264 p. (first edition, hardcover) ate an equally powerful (but, in their view, more truth-
ful) narrative of their own through which they can weave
ISBN 1-58648-386-2 together the many issues of advantage to them.
OCLC Number 67346269
Dewey Decimal 306.440973 22 See also
LC Classification PE2809 .N87 2006 • George Lakoff, author of Don’t Think of an Elephant!
Know Your Values and Frame the Debate.
Talking Right subtitled How Conservatives Turned Liberalism
Right, • framing (social sciences)
into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driv-
ing, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Lov-
ing, Left-Wing Freak Show is a 2006 book by linguist Geof-
Show,
External links
frey Nunberg, who uses his expertise to explain the Unit- • ’Talking Right’: Why the Left Is Losing, Linguistically.
ed States Democratic Party’s failure to win elections. Fresh Air interview on NPR. July 6, 2006.
Earlier commentators have attributed this failure to • Linguists on George W. Bush, Michel Paradis.
such matters as weak slogans. Nunberg argues that the Oxonian Review of Books 2006 6.1.
problem runs much deeper, in that the entire political
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talking_Right&oldid=339840907"
Categories:
• 2006 books
• Political books
• Political book stubs
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