Slam Dunks and No-Brainers Pop Language in Your Life, the Media, and Like . . . Whatever

In this marvelously original book, three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Leslie Savan offers fascinating insights into why we're all talking the talkDuh; Bring it on!; Bling;Whatever!and what this reveals about America today. Savan traces the paths that phrases like these travel from obscure slang to pop stardom, selling everything from cars (ads for VWs, Mitsubishis, and Mercurys all pitch them as "no-brainer"s) to wars (finding WMD in Iraq was to be a "slam dunk"). Real people create these catchy phrases, but once media, politics, and businesses broadcast them, they burst out of our mouths as celebrity words, newly glamorous and powerful. Witty, fun, and full of thought-provoking stories about the origins of popular expressions,Slam Dunks and No-Brainersis for everyone who loves the mysteries of language.

Leslie Savan wrote a column about advertising and commercial culture for The Village Voice for thirteen years. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1991, 1992, and 1997. Her writing has appeared in Time, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Salon, and she has been a commentator for National Public Radio. Savan is the author of The Sponsored Life: Ads, TV, and American Culture. She lives with her husband and son in New Jersey.


From the Hardcover edition.