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allmadhere106's review
3.0
This lexicon provides an interesting discussion on the language used in the _Buffy_ series and how the slang shifts and evolves through the show. The second half of the book gives a detailed glossary of terms used in the show as well as a section explaining the glossary itself. I found the discussions intriguing mainly because I'm a fan of the show. Obviously, non-fans wouldn't necessarily be interested in the book but some of the linguistic discussions were worthwhile regardless. My biggest complaint is that the book is now nearly 10 years old, so a lot of the points are lost or no longer apply nowadays. For me, it felt like many of the points covered were unnecessary mainly because they were so obvious to me. This observation could however solidify Adams's point when he says that he's interested to see how many of the slang terms will become mainstream. It would indeed appear that many did.
innae's review
The idea that slang from a popular television show has imbedded itself into American language is nice, but the reasons are at the level of a linguist and this could be a doctorate thesis. It is above my understanding and enjoyment.
mokey81's review
2.0
I'm not sure who the correct audience is for this book. Linguistics majors who also watched Buffy? Because I was an English major and I found myself a bit bored at the linguistics/etymological jargon.
There were parts I enjoyed, but it was also super repetitive in the first part of the book where he was breaking down the language. He talked about the same 3 or 4 words for the first half of the book.
The second half of the book was the glossary. And I didn't even enjoy that as much as I thought I would. If you weren't a part of "The Bronze" and "The Bronze Beta" message boards back in the day, like half of the words have nothing to do with your Buffy experience.
I had high hopes for this book, but...I'm just not sure who the appropriate audience is. It wasn't me. I was bored.
There were parts I enjoyed, but it was also super repetitive in the first part of the book where he was breaking down the language. He talked about the same 3 or 4 words for the first half of the book.
The second half of the book was the glossary. And I didn't even enjoy that as much as I thought I would. If you weren't a part of "The Bronze" and "The Bronze Beta" message boards back in the day, like half of the words have nothing to do with your Buffy experience.
I had high hopes for this book, but...I'm just not sure who the appropriate audience is. It wasn't me. I was bored.
beeboisourgod's review
1.0
All I have to say to the writer is:
For a guy obsessed with words, he sure does a bad job of putting them together in an interesting way. This book reads like a textbook, and I often found myself absorbing no information whatsoever and reading the same sentence over and over and reading the same sentence over and over and reading the same sentence over and over... and, well, you get the point.
The beauty of "Buffy-speak" is that it doesn't need to be over-analyzed and dissected, it just is. It's in the moment. It's clumsy. It's quirky. It's flexible. I remember watching a featurette on the writers' process when coming up with dialogue and the point basically was: they're teenagers, if they don't know a word, they'll find a way around it, make a new one, make new use of old ones, change the language to their convenience, often in a way that's pretty easily understandable. Half the words in this book are simply ones that end in 'Y,' or 'age' or are things that need no explanation or deeper thought. "Dusty," "Vamp-y," "skulky," "stripy," "gladness", "glib-free," there's not anything particularly Slayeresque to these words, or really interesting in general. It's like how I might say something that's not quite purple is "purple-y," it shouldn't take 300 pages to analyze why I decided to say that or how that type of word changing-ness might catch on in society. Yet almost an entire chapter is spent on "Y", and another on solely the word "much," about 5 pages on the spelling of "smoochies" and in the span of 2 pages, we read "wiggins" 30 times.
I'm disappointed because this book started out promising, I enjoyed it up to about page 60 until it devolved into a sea of "morphologicals" and "lexicals" and eye roll-age.
Plus, I think including situations present only in the early 2000s Buffy Forum "The Bronze Beta" make it a cluttered mess of internet speak and parody, because obviously in a space dedicated to a single fandom, slang pertaining to said fandom will reach a state of humorous exaggeration between peers. It doesn't necessarily prove influence in other "sitches"
So, would not recommend, not even really to die hard Buffy-Fans, unless you are an English major who thinks a single sentence rife with the words "suffixation," "actuation," "syntactical," "ephemeral," "morphological," and ""unlexicalized" sounds like the embodiment of excitement. Otherwise? This was boring as all Hell (mouth).
For a guy obsessed with words, he sure does a bad job of putting them together in an interesting way. This book reads like a textbook, and I often found myself absorbing no information whatsoever and reading the same sentence over and over and reading the same sentence over and over and reading the same sentence over and over... and, well, you get the point.
The beauty of "Buffy-speak" is that it doesn't need to be over-analyzed and dissected, it just is. It's in the moment. It's clumsy. It's quirky. It's flexible. I remember watching a featurette on the writers' process when coming up with dialogue and the point basically was: they're teenagers, if they don't know a word, they'll find a way around it, make a new one, make new use of old ones, change the language to their convenience, often in a way that's pretty easily understandable. Half the words in this book are simply ones that end in 'Y,' or 'age' or are things that need no explanation or deeper thought. "Dusty," "Vamp-y," "skulky," "stripy," "gladness", "glib-free," there's not anything particularly Slayeresque to these words, or really interesting in general. It's like how I might say something that's not quite purple is "purple-y," it shouldn't take 300 pages to analyze why I decided to say that or how that type of word changing-ness might catch on in society. Yet almost an entire chapter is spent on "Y", and another on solely the word "much," about 5 pages on the spelling of "smoochies" and in the span of 2 pages, we read "wiggins" 30 times.
I'm disappointed because this book started out promising, I enjoyed it up to about page 60 until it devolved into a sea of "morphologicals" and "lexicals" and eye roll-age.
Plus, I think including situations present only in the early 2000s Buffy Forum "The Bronze Beta" make it a cluttered mess of internet speak and parody, because obviously in a space dedicated to a single fandom, slang pertaining to said fandom will reach a state of humorous exaggeration between peers. It doesn't necessarily prove influence in other "sitches"
So, would not recommend, not even really to die hard Buffy-Fans, unless you are an English major who thinks a single sentence rife with the words "suffixation," "actuation," "syntactical," "ephemeral," "morphological," and ""unlexicalized" sounds like the embodiment of excitement. Otherwise? This was boring as all Hell (mouth).
booksaremyjam's review
4.0
What can I say? A dictionary of sorts which discusses the use of language in my all-time favorite show. To say I'm biased would be an understatement. Needless to say, if you didn't watch or don't love the show, this book is probably lost on you.
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