Insult To Intelligence

The first book to warn parents and teachers against a traditional--and destructive--teaching method, this will be important to all who are involved with children's literacy and education in general.

Insults are part of the fabric of daily life. But why do we insult each other? Why do insults cause us such pain? Can we do anything to prevent or lessen this pain? Most importantly, how can we overcome our inclination to insult others? In A Slap in the Face, William Irvine undertakes a wide-ranging investigation of insults, their history, the role they play in social relationships, and the science behind them. He examines not just memorable zingers, such as Elizabeth Bowen's description of Aldous Huxley as "The stupid person's idea of a clever person," but subtle insults as well, such as when someone insults us by reporting the insulting things others have said about us: "I never read bad reviews about myself," wrote entertainer Oscar Levant, "because my best friends invariably tell me about them." Irvine also considers the role insults play in our society: they can be used to cement relations, as when a woman playfully teases her husband, or to enforce a social hierarchy, as when a boss publicly berates an employee. He goes on to investigate the many ways society has tried to deal with insults-by adopting codes of politeness, for example, and outlawing hate speech-but concludes that the best way to deal with insults is to immunize ourselves against them: We need to transform ourselves in the manner recommended by Stoic philosophers. We should, more precisely, become insult pacifists, trying hard not to insult others and laughing off their attempts to insult us. A rousing follow-up to A Guide to the Good Life, A Slap in the Face will interest anyone who's ever delivered an insult or felt the sting of one--in other words, everyone.

A pocket-sized gift book guide to the best hard-hitting insults for every occasion. This handy little book is packed with insulting gestures, backhanded compliments, comebacks, all the things you should never say about someone's mama, and much more! Including: • Insulting Someone’s Intelligence • Insulting Someone’s Sexual Prowess • Insults for the Office • Insults on Game Day • Insults throughout History • Insults from around the World

Emotional Intelligence was an international phenomenon, appearing on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year and selling more than five million copies worldwide. Now, once again, Daniel Goleman has written a groundbreaking synthesis of the latest findings in biology and brain science, revealing that we are “wired to connect” and the surprisingly deep impact of our relationships on every aspect of our lives. Far more than we are consciously aware, our daily encounters with parents, spouses, bosses, and even strangers shape our brains and affect cells throughout our bodies—down to the level of our genes—for good or ill. In Social Intelligence, Daniel Goleman explores an emerging new science with startling implications for our interpersonal world. Its most fundamental discovery: we are designed for sociability, constantly engaged in a “neural ballet” that connects us brain to brain with those around us. Our reactions to others, and theirs to us, have a far-reaching biological impact, sending out cascades of hormones that regulate everything from our hearts to our immune systems, making good relationships act like vitamins—and bad relationships like poisons. We can “catch” other people’s emotions the way we catch a cold, and the consequences of isolation or relentless social stress can be life-shortening. Goleman explains the surprising accuracy of first impressions, the basis of charisma and emotional power, the complexity of sexual attraction, and how we detect lies. He describes the “dark side” of social intelligence, from narcissism to Machiavellianism and psychopathy. He also reveals our astonishing capacity for “mindsight,” as well as the tragedy of those, like autistic children, whose mindsight is impaired. Is there a way to raise our children to be happy? What is the basis of a nourishing marriage? How can business leaders and teachers inspire the best in those they lead and teach? How can groups divided by prejudice and hatred come to live together in peace? The answers to these questions may not be as elusive as we once thought. And Goleman delivers his most heartening news with powerful conviction: we humans have a built-in bias toward empathy, cooperation, and altruism–provided we develop the social intelligence to nurture these capacities in ourselves and others.

At last, a compendium of ingeniously insulting words for every occasion. For anyone who's been stymied by the level of sloth, bad looks and low intelligence of his fellow man (and woman), help is on the way. You can't change the tiresome creatures around you, but now you can describe them behind their backs with pleasing specificity. Yes, Insulting English is a user's guide to little-known and much-needed words that include: Gubbertush: Buck-toothed person Hogminny: A depraved young woman Nihilarian: Person with a meaningless job Pursy: Fat and short of breath Scombroid: Resembling a mackerel Tumbrel: A person who is drunk to the point of vomiting These and many other gems from our colorful mother tongue are collected on these pages. Now every gink, knipperdollin, and grizely dunderwhelp can be called by his rightful name.

WHY DO THE FRENCH PERSIST IN ASKING "WHO LAA-LAA" BUT NEVER MENTION THE OTHER TELETUBBIES? DID THE OUTLAW JOE EVER GET TO SEE WALES? BREAKING NEWS "MAN WHO CLAIMS TO HAVE TAKEN JOURNEY ON FLYING CARPET FOUND TO BE UNDER INFLUENCE OF DJINN" In Volume 1 of an intended series (Volume II due Spring 2015 )The OPU exploits the power of the pun by demonstrating its ability to change the course of history, amend the titles and plots of classic films and books and update famous quotations and poems. Nothing which falls under the banner of Media and the Arts is sacred in a book which sets out to both test and insult the intelligence of the reader. Beginning with basic one line jokes, archive material from the heads of now diminished Faculties is presented in a variety of formats ranging from travel guides to English, French and Scottish dictionaries, breaking news items, both historical and contemporary, and special features on Soccer in Ancient Greece, Art at the Barby-Ken centre and Welsh nostalgia. A compendium of the witty, nonsensical and absurd, The OPU Book of Uncommon Knowledge is the perfect fodder for wordsmiths and crossword fanatics with a penchant for the ridiculous. Littered with new games and quizzes which require both a sound general knowledge and an aptitude for punning this is a new form of joke book which provides entertainment for all the family. All facts are incorrect at the time of going to print as the OPU lives up to its motto of promising not to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing like the truth. Specially footnoted to overcome the barriers to understanding created by age, culture and continental split, this is an opportunity for English speaking peoples around the world to gain a true understanding of how the pun can change the sublime to the ridiculous with a flick of the pen.

A preface is an excellent opportunity for an editor to speak directly to the reader and share with him the goals, hopes, struggles, and produc tion of a volume such as this. It seems to me that I have an important obligation to tell you the origins of this volume. This is no idle chatter, but rather an integral part of scientific inquiry. It is important before delving into content, theory, and methodology to talk about motivation, values, and goals. Indeed, it is always necessary to explicate from the very beginning of any intellectual and scientific inquiry the implicit assumptions governing that exercise. Failure to do so is not only an ethical but a scientific failure. We learn, albeit all too slowly, that science is a moral enterprise and that values must be explicitly stated, removing from the shadows those implicit beliefs that often motivate and deter mine our results. No better or more relevant example can be found than in the review of the implicit assumptions of the early IQ psychometri cians in this country (see Kamin's book, The Science and Politics of IQ, 1975).