Ralph KeyesRecensioni

Ask a non-writer which sounds scarier, writing a book or climbing Mount Everest, and the answer you hear will likely be the latter. Writers know better.

In his fine 1995 book “The Courage to Write,” Ralph Keyes explores just how scary writing can be, even for and perhaps especially for the best writers. The fears are many: Can I actually do this? Will anyone publish it? Will anyone want to read it? Will they like it? Will people laugh at me? What if I make embarrassing mistakes? What if people realize I am actually writing about them? What if I expose my true self in my writing?

Keyes shares the words and stories of many writers who have addressed their fears. E.B. White worried over every word, he tells us. "I write in terror," Cynthia Ozick said. "I have to talk myself into bravery with every sentence, sometimes every syllable." Erica Jong wrote, "Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the dark place where it leads."

Yet fear in a writer is not necessarily a bad thing, assuming that writers possess the kind of courage Jong speaks about. Toni Morrison put it this way: "When you stiffen" (in anxiety while writing) "you know that whatever you stiffen about is very important. The stuff is important, the fear itself is information."

Or as Robert Cormier put it, "As much as there is joy in writing, there's always the little bit of terror to keep you on your toes."

There are plenty of how-to books out there for writers, but this book by Keyes is different in that it addresses not so much the writing itself as the courage it takes to actually do that writing, day after day after day. How much easier it would be to climb a mountain.

A 'how to write' book with a difference, The Courage to Write does not address technique and craft. Instead, it explores author Ralph Keyes' conviction that "good writing has less to do with acquired technique than with inner conviction" (pg. 117). A lot of what Keyes writes about will ring true with aspiring (and established) writers, and he does have some good advice. Some of it is obvious, but sometimes you need the obvious things said to you. You cannot evade the stark, printed word of an expert – to get down and actually write – as easily as you can your own conscience.

The book is not as essential or as fresh as some reviewers claim. An early attempt to structure the piece in the manner of the Nineties self-help books it was birthed alongside is abandoned (the idea of 'courage points', points in the writing process where the writer is at greatest risk of quitting, is never expanded upon). I also felt the book was quite tautological, even if harmlessly so.

However, my biggest peeve is that I am not sure how much of the book's advice still applies nowadays. In many ways, I think we have the opposite problem, and many, many people are eager to inflict their workshopped prose on the world, usually derivative of a bestselling writer or YA hack. I've always had a sense of disquiet over Creative Writing, which often seems to be less a trade school and more a trendy form of group therapy, and Keyes' approach in this book, however earnest, only confirmed this to me.

A motivational read. It gives examples of fears that many great authors have experieinced. The first half of the book explain why an author can be so apprehensive. The second half gives words of encouragement.
I will keep it to read again.

Guilty as Charged...

This book was Horrifyingly accurate. The fear that stalks me all the time looks over my shoulder as I write this pitifully short review, twisting my stomach into a very tiring knot.

I must get to my revision, but I think I find it far easier and a little bit more interesting, or at least less stressful, to get back to my comparison of Victor Hugo's Notre dame de Paris in the French next to Nesrin Altınova's Turkish translation (at least I feel less guilty doing that than simply pacing the floor to avoid my 3rd draft...).

In Guilt,
Shira
10 February, 12017 HE

Guilty as Charged...

This book was Horrifyingly accurate. The fear that stalks me all the time looks over my shoulder as I write this pitifully short review, twisting my stomach into a very tiring knot.

I must get to my revision, but I think I find it far easier and a little bit more interesting, or at least less stressful, to get back to my comparison of Victor Hugo's Notre dame de Paris in the French next to Nesrin Altınova's Turkish translation (at least I feel less guilty doing that than simply pacing the floor to avoid my 3rd draft...).

In Guilt,
Shira
10 February, 12017 HE

Ralph Keyes takes the reader through time, customs and cultures to point out that the way we use language tells us of our fears. Although the first half of the book seemed to focus on sex and potty talk, the rest of it went on to politics, religion and our social bias. Learning the words we refuse to speak, shows us the subjects in life we are either afraid of or uncomfortable with. Whereas it used to be the gods/God, and sex, now it has moved on to being judged by those around us for our political/social views. The dance with words points that out.
This was a fascinating book for me. I had never thought that much about euphemisms before. When I thought I was being very modern and straightforward teaching my children the "real" names for their body parts, all I was doing was teaching them the Latin euphemisms! I am left to wonder though, if there are any "real" names for these things.

Another good instruction book.

A game of two halves: I find the first section a little woolly, while the second is practical, helpful and inspiring. Interestingly, Keyes acknowledges this dualty by referencing in the second half the feedback he'd received on the first, and re-written.

Someone from Team RLM sent me this-a real pick me up when I needed it most. If your hope is faltering-read this!

This was an incredibly interesting book on the reasons and motivation behind humanities constant urge to euphemize.

It was particularly interesting to learn just how old are some of today's euphemisms, and just how many 'words' originated as euphemisms (such as bear, for instance). Many of the newly emerging euphemisms can be just as amusing as those which are outdated. One such example is 'rebooting the ovarian operating system', a euphemism for menstruation.

Just as interesting as the actual euphemisms, however, are the variety of reasons for using them. This is definitely a book I would recommend to a friend.

lots of quotes from authors, interesting look at the craft; the concept of courage can easily transcend to other goals

Always fascinating, frequently amusing, occasionally hilarious.

I thought I'd read this in college, but if I did, I retained none of it. Maybe I just needed to wait for the right time to read it. I read this book right after I read Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, and the combination was just what I needed to get me to start writing again (other than reviews on Goodreads, comments on Facebook, and nightly journal entries). I found it so encouraging to read about the writing habits and motivations of other writers. When I took up my notebook to start writing last night after the baby was asleep, I was able to recognize the jitters for what they were and not let them stop me from putting pen to paper.

A surprising number of the words and phrases that we use every day are actually allusions to once-current events, people, pop culture, or technology, and many more of them originated as sports references, military terms, movie-making lingo, or other kinds of specialized language. Some of them have been used so often and for so long that they're now just part of the way we talk, long after we've forgotten what they originally referred to.

I Love It When You Talk Retro explores these expressions, with examples from various categories (names-turned-words, literary references, allusions to politics, etc., etc.) and short explanations of where they came from and how they entered our speech. Some seem very obvious, others interestingly obscure, but, as the author points out, which ones you think are common knowledge and which are new to you will vary from person to person, and depends a lot on exactly when you were born.

I've read a few other books lately that have dealt with similar topics, but I think this is far and away the best of them, or at least the most entertaining. That's largely because Keyes doesn't take a condescending "Here's some allusions you should be aware of if you want to be culturally literate" tone. He also doesn't organize things in a dictionary or encyclopedia format. Instead, he just takes a pleasant ramble through the history of American speech, and invites the reader along for the ride. And it's kind of fascinating, not least because it highlights the fact that so much of what we say can't be understood just by knowing what all the individual words mean, but is steeped thoroughly in our culture and history in ways that we don't necessarily even realize. It's also fun to speculate on what references or catchphrases that are current today will still be in use ten or twenty or fifty years from now, something Keyes indulges in a little bit in the final chapter.

It's hardly a comprehensive collection of "retroterms," but for language lovers, it's a pleasant and often informative read.

What kind of risk taker are you?

Overall a fairly enjoyable book. Because I often assert that I was born too late, I found myself recognizing a good deal of these phrases, especially in the chapter on eponyms and terms referring to classical studies (e.g. Gordian knot, Pyrrhic victory). Also I definitely know what a breadbox is.

My favourite chapter was probably the one on terms that came into common usage through the various world wars and global conflict (WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam) -- I spent most of that chapter thinking, "Hey, I use that term! And that one! And that one too!" Apparently my idiolect makes extensive use of conflict-based terms, such as cooties, cold feet, shell-shocked, flash in the pan, and going off half-cocked. I also liked the chapter on nautical terms and was quite surprised to discover the origin of the phrase "taken aback".

Some folk may beg to differ with Keyes' assertions re advertising jingles that have stood the test of time -- the prologue states that Chiffon Margarine's "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!" has been around for a long time, whereas the Alka-Seltzer slogan "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!" has not. In my experience the reverse is true -- I had never heard the Chiffon Margarine slogan before reading it in this book. I did however agree with the longevity of "Where's the beef?" and "I've fallen and I can't get up!" So perhaps some of these jingles and catchphrases are more popular in some areas than others. I would also argue that "kids these days" are probably somewhat conversant with LP-related terminology like "stuck in a groove" and "flip side" given the resurgence in vinyl.

All in all there is plenty of food for thought and fodder for debate in this book. Worth a read if you like knowing where expressions come from or if you're looking for some new (new-to-you) ones to sprinkle into conversation.

As the introduction notes, the book is designed to be read straight through, browsed, or used as a reference for colloquialisms Keyes terms "retrotalk". He defines retrotalk as "a slippery slope of puzzling allusions to past phenomena." I found the book appealed not only to my endless fascination with words and etymology but my delight in trivia.

The book divides itself into chapters based on the source of the terms (for example, films, the military, etc.). The general pattern of the book is that there is a paragraph devoted to each term explaining its origin with the term appearing in bold, typically towards the end of the paragraph. Reading the book straight through, I found the bolding of the terms distracting but know that this stylistic choice would make it easier to use the text for browsing or reference. Some of my favourite explanations included those for cardigan sweater, boondocks, scuttlebutt, deep-six, and Molotov cocktail.

Overall, a decent read for anyone interested in lexicography, etymology, and trivia.

This is a discussion of euphemisms. It is a interesting topic for anyone interested in language and its use. There are chapters such as "Sex", "Body Parts", "Excretions", and "Death." While the author does a good job and the topic is interesting, it sometimes gets tedious. I would not recommend sitting down and reading it right through. It would be a great book to pick up and read parts in between other books. If you read it, you will find out things such as where the expression "bought the farm" came from. It was interesting to learn how an euphemism may be built on another euphemism and upon another to the point where the original term is not known.

After reading this book, I'll never describe a beverage as fizzy again. Word fans should own it for the bibliography alone! Euphemisms explained, explored and celebrated. There are entries, however, where euphemisms are merely recorded, but the origin (or even explanation for the unimaginative) is not. Sources for the book range from 16th century English dictionaries to interviews with today's combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Really gets to the heart of the matter as to why writing can be so terrifying ... and ways this fear can be overcome.

Euphemania: Our Love Affair With Euphemisms by Ralph Keyes
Published by Little, Brown and Company
ISBN 978-0-316-05656-4
At the request of The Hachette Book Group, a TPB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
Synopsis (from back of book): An entertaining look at euphemisms-where they come from, why we need them, and what they tell us about who we are.
How did "die" become kick the bucket, "underwear" become unmentionables, and "having an affair" become hiking the Appalachian Trail? Originally used to avoid blasphemy and taboos and to make nice, euphemisms have become embedded in the fabric of our language. Euphemania traces the evolution of euphemisms from tools of the church to expressions of gentility to today's instrument of commercial, political, and postmodern doublespeak. As much social commentary as a book for word lovers, Euphemania is a lively and thought-provoking look at the power of words and our power over them.
My Thoughts and Opinion: Just in time for the holidays. This book is informative, filled with trivia and a fun read. I found it to be quite interesting as to where and how certain terms came in to being such as "a loose cannon" (pg 193), "bookworm"(pg 228) "under the weather"(pg 124) and so many more. This book is perfect for those that enjoy trivia, history of the English language and the origin of certain phrases. I will never look at a chocolate chip cookie the same way again (page 111). Just in time for the holidays, this book should be on one's Christmas list, for yourself or someone you know.
My Rating: 4

Egad this was a hard one! It's not that it wasn't interesting, because it was...it's more that this is one of those books that is much better when taken in small draughts then read straight through. Euphemisms are the the bread to our butter, the sugar to our tea, the easy way of putting things that are less than easy (or sometimes polite) to speak of...and with that being said, this book covers in a glancing fashion a range of topics that at best can be somewhat touchy to the truly controversial.

Anyone that has ever wondered why we sugar coat some of the words we say will certainly have an eye opening experience with this informative and unique book. Recommended for late teens (at the earliest) through adult readers.

List of idiomatic expressions from the past, arranged by topic. Etertaining for word buffs, but also a useful reference work.

This book arrived, a gift from donut, in that awful place in the middle of a first draft when you feel lost and discouraged, and on top of that I was so swamped with lifestuff I couldn't figure out wtf I was doing trying to write fiction on top of it all, especially when I feel like my chances of getting published are approximately equivalent to the chances of winning the lottery without buying a ticket. Anyway, donut advised keeping the book near my writing area to flip through in moments of angst, and yup. Here it is. I actually read it straight through, though it would be an easy book to page through at random. I read it in little snippets at my computer, whenever I was waiting for my super slow internet to process something, or when I had those moments when nothing, even the most banal of writing, would come out despite how many times I tapped my fingers anxiously against the keys. I love it. It made me much more hopeful without ever making me roll my eyes at some stupid cheesy business, without feeling like I was holding a vacuous, fake-smiling cheerleader in my hands. :D½

In this well-researched,well written book, Keyes examines (mostly) common phrases and words with (sometimes) forgotten origins. For each word or phrase, the author shares the term's meaning, its origin, and an example of its use. One of the more delightful things about reading this book now, is how recent many of these examples were. The 2008 Democratic primary of Clinton v. Obama is referenced several times, as are recent books and articles. While it does make me curious about how well this book will age, it serves to make I Love It When You Talk Retro an excellent read for this day and age. While I read this book cover to cover, I think most readers would prefer it as a browsing kind of book.

http://archthinking.blogspot.com/2009/07/review-i-love-it-when-you-talk-retro.ht...