Um... is about how you really speak, and why it's normal for your casual, everyday speech to be filled with verbal blunders — about one in every ten words. Why do they happen? Why can't we control them? What can you tell about the people who make them?

In this charming, engaging account of language in the wild, linguist and writer Michael Erard also explains why our attention to some verbal blunders rises and falls. Why was the spoonerism named after Reverend Spooner, not some other absent-minded person? Where did the Freudian slip come from? Why do we prize umlessness in speaking? And how do we explain the American presidents who are famous for their verbal blundering?

You'll have new ways to listen to yourself and others once you've met the people who work with verbal blunders every day — journalists, transcribers, interpreters, police officers, linguists, psychologists, among others — and when you've learned what verbal blunders tell about who we are and what we want.

A rich investigation of a fascinating subject, full of entertaining examples, Um... is essential reading for talkers and listeners of all stripes.

"'Journalist and language expert Erard believes we can learn a lot from our mistakes. He argues that the secrets of human speech are present in our own proliferating verbal detritus. Erard plots a comprehensive outline of verbal blunder studies throughout history, from Freud's fascination with the slip to Allen Funt's Candid Camera. Smoothly summarizing complex linguistic theories, Erard shows how slip studies undermine some well-established ideas on language acquisition and speech. Included throughout are hilarious highlight reels of bloopers, boners, Spoonerisms, malapropisms and 'eggcorns.' The author also introduces interesting people along the way, from notebook-toting, slip-collecting professors to the devoted members of Toastmasters, a public speaking club with a self-help focus. According to Erard, the 'aesthetic of umlessness' is a relatively new development in society originating alongside advents in mechanical reproduction, but it may be on its way out already. Take President Bush, who exemplifies that 'the quirky casual, whether it is intentional or spontaneous, can inspire more trust than the slick and polished.' Erard closes by examining our own propensity toward verbal missteps, demonstrating how the interpretation of blunders is inextricable from social expectations. While Erard's conclusion that meaning is socially and historically embedded may not be unfamiliar, his work challenges the reader to think about his or her own speech in an entirely new way.' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"By focusing on what many of us overlook (or underhear?), Erard has further revealed the complexity and beauty of language. Perhaps he will make all of us both better listeners and, um, better speakers." Seattle Times

"You can feel when an author is enjoying himself or herself, and Erard's survey is written with unexpected humor, grace and high spirits." Cleveland Plain Dealer

"[A] commendable, well-written and fluent book about disfluencies." Minneapolis Star Tribune

"[Erard] devotes an entire chapter to President George W. Bush's verbal stumbles and envisions the future of verbal blunders." Library Journal

"Some people are bird watchers and learn a great deal about the birds they watch. Michael Erard watches word botchers and, in the process, enriches our experience of what language is about and what makes us human. After reading Um... you'll never hear the thud and blunder of everyday speech in the same way." Richard Lederer, author of Anguished English

"A fascinating look at yet another revealing instance of human imperfection." Kirkus (Starred Review)

Michael Erard, a graduate of Williams College, received an M.A. in linguistics and a PH.D. in English from the University of Texas. His articles have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, Wired, and Technology Review, among many other publications. He lives in Austin, Texas.