Doublespeak Defined: Cut Through the Bull**** and Get the Point

In an increasingly Orwellian world, everyone should be armed with this hilarious, slyly subversive deconstruction of the slippery locutions of spinmeisters from all walks of public life. Doublespeak guru William Lutz (Doublespeak, The New Doublespeak) is uniquely qualified to bring you this supremely funny expos‚ of the juiciest ways THEY are trying to bamboozle you!

A sampling of Doublespeak Defined:

Bald n./ :hair disadvantaged
Men in Japan aren't bald; they're "hair disadvantaged," according to The Japan Economic Journal.

Diet n./ :1.nutrional avoidance therapy 2. caloric reduction program

Frozen adj./ :1 deep chilled 2. fresh 3. hard chilled 4. previously frozen

The USDA considers processed chickens "fresh," not frozen, if they have been chilled to 28 degrees Fahrenheit. Chickens so processed have not been frozen but "deep chilled."

Light Switch n./ :ideogram illumination intensity adjustment potentiometer

Waste paper basket n./ :user-friendly, space-effective, flexible desk side sortation unit

Government officials in Toronto, Canada, paid $123.80 (Canadian) each for these items.

William Lutz was the head of the Committee on Public Doublespeak for 15 years, and editor of the Quarterly Review of Doublespeak for 14 years. He is professor of English at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey, and a member of the Pennsylvania Bar.

His previous books include Doublespeak: From Revenue Enhancement to Terminal Living and The Cambridge Thesaurus of American English. Lutz has appeared on numerous television and radio programs to publicize the dangers of doublespeak, including Today, Larry King Live, The CBS Evening News, The MacNeil Lehrer NewsHour, and National Public Radio's Morning Edition.

He lives in Haddonfield, New Jersey, with his wife, the novelist Denise Gess.