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The Well-Spoken Thesaurus: The Most Powerful Ways to Say Everyday Words and Phrases by Tom Heehler
flybyreader's review
4.0
Just as Margaret Atwood once said: “Word after a word after a word is power”, words are powerful and the way we use them communicates in ways we cannot even imagine, telling everything about us from our educational background to our political views.
And here we have a remarkable collection of words and phrases that will further enhance your eloquence and articulation, a great resource for both personal and academic development.
Mind you, this is no ordinary thesaurus. It only contains beautiful versions of ordinary words we use in daily life without much notice. There are amazing rhetorical formulas here that can be applied to everyday use in order to create linguistic chemistry in writing and help us become verbal alchemists. A great resource book to consult when in need. Here’s my favorite analogy from the book:
“Words are like spices. Take care to select the proper ratios and flavors. An embarrassment of sugar will leave your prose flowery and pretentious. Too much garlic, and your writing will taste academic and stiff. Too little salt, and you’ll be dismissed as pedestrian. And always be mindful of your audience. Try not to serve vichyssoise to a coal miner, and do not give Cheerios to the queen of England. Neither will be amused.”
Recommended.
And here we have a remarkable collection of words and phrases that will further enhance your eloquence and articulation, a great resource for both personal and academic development.
Mind you, this is no ordinary thesaurus. It only contains beautiful versions of ordinary words we use in daily life without much notice. There are amazing rhetorical formulas here that can be applied to everyday use in order to create linguistic chemistry in writing and help us become verbal alchemists. A great resource book to consult when in need. Here’s my favorite analogy from the book:
“Words are like spices. Take care to select the proper ratios and flavors. An embarrassment of sugar will leave your prose flowery and pretentious. Too much garlic, and your writing will taste academic and stiff. Too little salt, and you’ll be dismissed as pedestrian. And always be mindful of your audience. Try not to serve vichyssoise to a coal miner, and do not give Cheerios to the queen of England. Neither will be amused.”
Recommended.
gloame's review against another edition
2.0
This book suffers from some questionable editing. I think I should have been more wary of a thesaurus written by way of "whenever I would happen upon an eloquent word or phrase, I would write it down and pair it with what I would have said otherwise" — which doesn't necessarily mean his current vocab could really define the new word, or that it had the same meanings.
The bottom line for me is that there is some inaccurate, sometimes contradictory, information in this thesaurus and I hesitate to recommend it on account of someone else taking it at face value, repeating incorrect information, and looking like an idiot.
You see, this thesaurus was developed by a guy who found words and phrases he liked and defined those words and phrases to the best of his understanding at that moment, in words that made sense to him. That doesn't mean these things are always correct.
I'll give just a couple examples:
- "sangfroid" is given as pronounced "sah-FWAH" under the "Calm behavior" entry, and as "sahn-FRAW" under the "Composure under pressure" entry; neither of which is correct
- "troglodyte" is given as a synonym to "Conservative extremist" which, as much as I'd like to agree, no
- "roe" is given as a synonym for "Fight (a fight)"; the word you want there is "row", pronounced as in rhyming with bough
And that's just the ones I bothered to bookmark in my Kindle. So while there were some good gems here, there was nothing that I felt comfortable enough with not to double check myself, and many times, I ended up having to revise the definition given, at least in spirit.
So, 2 stars. 2 for the gems. -3 for the concerning inaccuracies. In a reference book.
...And there it rests (one of the new phrases I did learn and put to use).
The bottom line for me is that there is some inaccurate, sometimes contradictory, information in this thesaurus and I hesitate to recommend it on account of someone else taking it at face value, repeating incorrect information, and looking like an idiot.
You see, this thesaurus was developed by a guy who found words and phrases he liked and defined those words and phrases to the best of his understanding at that moment, in words that made sense to him. That doesn't mean these things are always correct.
I'll give just a couple examples:
- "sangfroid" is given as pronounced "sah-FWAH" under the "Calm behavior" entry, and as "sahn-FRAW" under the "Composure under pressure" entry; neither of which is correct
- "troglodyte" is given as a synonym to "Conservative extremist" which, as much as I'd like to agree, no
- "roe" is given as a synonym for "Fight (a fight)"; the word you want there is "row", pronounced as in rhyming with bough
And that's just the ones I bothered to bookmark in my Kindle. So while there were some good gems here, there was nothing that I felt comfortable enough with not to double check myself, and many times, I ended up having to revise the definition given, at least in spirit.
So, 2 stars. 2 for the gems. -3 for the concerning inaccuracies. In a reference book.
...And there it rests (one of the new phrases I did learn and put to use).
imperfectcj's review against another edition
2.0
“Read the beginning of this book and let me know what you think of it,” said my spouse. The book was a gift to my spouse from his boss. He genuinely wanted my opinion of the book, but he also wanted my opinion about whether the gift was a veiled jab from his boss. Well, ex-boss.
I don’t have much to say about either issue. I put a lot of value on thinking about words and how to choose them and use them to mean what you say. Or maybe to mean what you mean through the medium of what you say because sometimes it’s more effective to mean something different from what you say.
So, the concept is fine, and the examples are okay, but this seems like a book for people who don’t read, or who only read Hollywood gossip magazines and self-help books. Because when one reads literature (in the sense of emotionally complex writing that requires a bit of effort from the reader), doesn’t one internalize the writing style of the author and it seeps into one’s own speaking/writing style like how I unintentionally start speaking in a vaguely Australian accent when I’m around people from Melbourne or with a bit of a twang when I’m hanging out with friends from Texas? No studying required, just the activation of mirror neurons or something.
My spouse argues that it’s useful even to readers of literature to have the nuances of the language pointed out, and perhaps my experience with accents is a point on his side of the argument.
I don’t have much to say about either issue. I put a lot of value on thinking about words and how to choose them and use them to mean what you say. Or maybe to mean what you mean through the medium of what you say because sometimes it’s more effective to mean something different from what you say.
So, the concept is fine, and the examples are okay, but this seems like a book for people who don’t read, or who only read Hollywood gossip magazines and self-help books. Because when one reads literature (in the sense of emotionally complex writing that requires a bit of effort from the reader), doesn’t one internalize the writing style of the author and it seeps into one’s own speaking/writing style like how I unintentionally start speaking in a vaguely Australian accent when I’m around people from Melbourne or with a bit of a twang when I’m hanging out with friends from Texas? No studying required, just the activation of mirror neurons or something.
My spouse argues that it’s useful even to readers of literature to have the nuances of the language pointed out, and perhaps my experience with accents is a point on his side of the argument.
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