Someone has invited me to review a book that “challenges women to live each day with fearless authenticity.”
Oooh, that sounds grand! Can men do it, too?
Only… what the dickens does it mean?
There appears to be something here about you being you. Well, what if “you” are a jerk? An authentic ignoramus? Or a fearless dunderhead? But we can only try to guess what the author means, since she isn’t using plain English and who feels like reading a whole swinkin’ book just to find out what the title means? “Fap!” to that.
But this is awful–politics is seeping into our broader culture and making people as dishonest as their politicians. I mean, this is the kind of babble you expect to hear from some yo-yo running for the Senate and not having anything like a reason for you to elect him. Grandiose babble is meant to paper over his vacancy. “Once in the Senate, I pledge myself to a fearless authenticity in championing inclusion and diversity!” Living proof that nature does not, after all, abhor a vacuum.
Say what you mean, and mean what you say. Which probably bars the door against your being hailed as an expert. But at least people will understand you.
