Talk to the Hand - Softcover

Truss, Lynne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007329075 ISBN 13: 9780007329076

Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2009

Synopsis

The best-selling author of 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' is back with a book on the state of modern manners. 'Talk to the Hand' is a colourful call to arms - from the wittiest defender of the civilised world.

About this title

Review:

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Lynne Truss is the pundit of pet peeves. She's 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, it's obvious she'd like to have snarkily dubbed it "Learn Some Effing Manners People!"--only she's too polite to do so. (It should be noted that while she's shocked by 6-year-olds using the f -word, she's hopeful that it's so overused that it'll 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 it's nearly everybody." These self-produced bubbles make it easy for rudeness to rule. If someone forgets to hold a door or say "Thank you," it's because, Truss says, they're 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 society's decline is serious. To that end, she offers the words of Willy Loman's wife in Arthur Miller's 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 you'd 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

From the Back Cover:

The Queen of Sticklers takes on the sorry state of modern manners.

"Without knocking anyone down on your way, hurry to the bookstore for a copy of Talk to the Hand... Long live the Queen of Zero Tolerance. And heaven help the rest of us."
—The New York Times Book Review

"Yes, people are now ruder than ever, and no, there's no excuse for it: The outraged and slighted can find solace in Talk to the Hand."
—New York Post

"Lynne Truss is "the Doyenne of Do's and Don'ts."
—Newsday

"The hilarious British fusspot is back with Talk to the Hand... in which she trains her zero tolerance wit on rude behavior, from the death of thank-you notes to the ubiquity of the F- word."
—Glamour

"She's cranky, she's articulate, and she's absolutely right. Just as she fomented a revolution in language, now she foments a revolution in behavior. You'll find yourself nodding in agreement; then you'll find yourself speaking up."
—Victoria Skurnick, Editor-in-Chief, Book-of-the-Month Club

"She can make 201 pages fly by as you snicker and chuckle, recognizing your own modern world in every paragraph. [...] Reading Talk to the Hand, you can enjoy a good laugh to offset the daily rudeness."
—The Kentucky Herald-Leader

About this edition

• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0007329075
• ISBN 13: 9780007329076
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 226