Better than Great
Plotnik, Arthur. Better than Great: A Plenitudinous Compendium of Wallopingly Fresh Superlatives. 2011. (423.1 Plotn.A)
I have a friend who is enthusiastic in expressing her likes and dislikes. She offers high praise as well as severe criticism to many things in this world, but in so many instances, she relies on just two words to get her point across: amazing and awesome. She is not alone. Arthur Plotkin has written a book to help her and the rest of us shake free from cliché, to rattle our descriptive powers a bit, to lend novelty and sparkle to our language whether it be a written piece or delivered verbally. This is not just a dry thesaurus, a mere collection of synonyms, but rather a helpful, organized set of lists of original superlatives and sample usages to help you spot the just-right word or phrase and maybe to stimulate your own creative constructions. Instead of awesome french fries, why not try I'm-not-sharing-these-with-anyone french fries? Face it, we humans do love our superlatives. Exaggeration is so commonly used that many superlatives have lost their punch; this welcome addition to language arts how-tos will help you become a wallopingly good wordsmith.
(Barbara L, Reader's Services)
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