The following review is submitted by Charles Davenport, Jr., who is a free lance writer in Greensboro.
Charles Murray is old-fashioned, judgmental, intolerant, and occasionally, downright mean-spirited.
What’s not to like?
Of course, sensitivity, inclusion, and tolerance are all fine and dandy--to a point. But it often seems that those of us on the traditionalist side of the cultural clash are hobbled by an excess of courtesy. Contrary to the mainstream media’s caricature, our collective disposition is soft-spoken and deferential to a fault. The allure of an ally who happens to be a crotchety, plain-spoken SOB cannot be denied.
Best-selling author Charles Murray is a self-proclaimed “curmudgeon.” Regrettably, both the term and the disposition are nearly extinct. According to Webster’s, a curmudgeon is simply “a bad-tempered, difficult person.” These days, such people are branded “intolerant” and unceremoniously cast out of polite society.
I find them charming. For instance, Murray describes a few anti-social, immoral behaviors, and then asks us—his readers—if we would be willing to describe the conduct as “vulgar, unseemly, or dishonorable.” Yes, I would.
“I deliberately chose words that are unfashionable,” he continues. “We’re willing to say that someone’s behavior is ‘inappropriate,’ but the words vulgar, unseemly, and dishonorable all have a hard edge to them, conveying an element of contempt as well as disapproval. I’m in favor of bringing them back.” Me, too.
Language lovers and grammar Nazis will immediately recognize Charles Murray as a kindred spirit, and The Curmudgeon’s Guide as an intellectual playground. Thoroughly engrossed, I read it in one, three-hour sitting. Consider this stinging rebuke: “Do you use the word like as a verbal tic? I mean, like, do you insert it in, like, random points in your, like, spoken conversation? If the answer is yes, this is the single most important tip in the entire book: STOP IT.”
Good heavens! Why all the fuss? “I cannot think of another flaw among members of recent generations…that irritates curmudgeons more. Even moderate use of like as a verbal tic lowers our estimate of the offender’s IQ and moral worth.” Zing! The truth hurts. But Murray is just getting warmed up: “To people who love the English language and are precise, your use of like as a verbal tic is a proclamation that you don’t love the language and are sloppy. Unfair? Maybe. But that won’t keep us from writing you off.”
Readers of a modern sensibility are likely to condemn Murray as insensitive and judgmental; traditionalists will celebrate him for the same reasons. Consider his take on tattoos: “It does no good to remind curmudgeons that tattoos have been around for millennia. Yes, we will agree, tattoos have been common—first among savage tribes and then, more recently, among the lowest classes of Western societies. In America, tattoos have until the last few decades been the unambiguous badge of the proletariat or worse—an association still acknowledged in the phrase tramp stamp.” He makes allowances, however, for tattoos that are meaningful and concealable.
As suggested by the chapter titles—“On the Presentation of Self in the Workplace”; “On Thinking and Writing Well”; “On the Formation of Who You Are”; and “On the Pursuit of Happiness”--The Curmudgeon’s Guide will prove particularly beneficial to young readers and recent college graduates. It is political only now and then, incidentally.
A friend, for example, says to Murray, “Marriage works for some people, not for others; it’s no big deal what people choose.” The author responds with his usual, adorable vehemence: “You mustn’t indulge yourself in that kind of flaccid nonjudgmental nonsense….You can’t let your desire to be tolerant get in the way of your obligation to reach moral judgments….You not only need to do it; you must. The failure to do so doesn’t define you as nonjudgmental. It defines you as lazy.”
The thrust of Murray’s book is linguistic precision, and in that realm, it’s difficult to imagine a more persuasive writer. Among other leap-from-your-chair, applause-inducing passages, he sneers at those who toss around “words” like “irregardless,” “mischievious,” and “overexaggerated.”
I have a few pet peeves of my own: The term “worser,” which, in the intellectual slums, is used to describe a deteriorating situation. Another annoyance is people who say they “could care less” when they couldn’t. But the bane of my existence is the term “community,” the use of which is vastly “overexaggerated,” especially in the media. Buy a thesaurus, please.
The Curmudgeon’s Guide is a compact volume that won’t demand much of your time. Rarely have I encountered so much surliness and vituperation in so few pages. This is the feel-good read of the summer!
The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Getting Ahead: Dos and Don’ts of Right Behavior, Tough Thinking, Clear Writing, and Living a Good Life, by Charles Murray
Crown Publishing/144 pages/$17.95
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