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Death Sentence
Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language | Don Watson
2 posts | 1 read | 1 to read
Part diatribe, part cool reflection on the state of Australia's public language, Don Watson's Death Sentenceis scathing, funny and brilliant. ' ... in public life the language has never been held in less regard. It withers in the dungeons of the technocratic mind. It is butchered by the media. In politics it lacks all qualifications for the main game.' Almost sixty years ago, George Orwell described the decay of language and why this threatened democratic society. But compared to what we now endure, the public language of Orwell's day brimmed with life and truth. Today's corporations, government departments, news media, and, perhaps most dangerously, politicians - speak to each other and to us in cliched, impenetrable, lifeless sludge. Don Watson can bear it no longer. In Death Sentence, part diatribe, part cool reflection on the state of Australia's public language, he takes a blowtorch to the words - and their users - who kill joy, imagination and clarity. Scathing, funny and brilliant, Death Sentenceis a small book of profound weight - and timeliness.
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CarolynM
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#MusicalNewYear #FeedTheBirds

There's a bird on the cover, does that count?

CouronneDhiver Totally counts 6y
BiblioLitten 😄 6y
See All 9 Comments
Rissreads What an amazing cover picture! ❤️ 6y
Cathythoughts Great ♥️ cover ! I hope the bird on the cover is ok ... because that‘s my plan too 👍🏻 6y
Cinfhen That‘s an awesome cover!! 6y
JennyM 🦅 🐦 🦢- great pic! 6y
vivastory Completely counts! 6y
readordierachel Totally! 6y
60 likes9 comments
review
nevillebion
Panpan

This was a painfully dull book to work through. There is no question that public language could be decaying but Don does no justice to his argument, because in fact he doesn‘t actually argue his point, the whole book is just one giant whinge about his personal gripe with the current state of public language of which he when referring to politicians as “pollies” is himself a perpetrator. (2/5)