William D. Lutz

"William Lutz" redirects here. For the football player, see Wil Lutz.

William D. Lutz (born 12 December 1940, Racine, Wisconsin) is an American linguist who specialized in the use of plain language and the avoidance of doublespeak (deceptive language). He wrote a famous essay The World of Doublespeak on this subject as well as the book Doublespeak[1] His original essay and the book described the four different types of doublespeak (euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook, and inflated language) and the social dangers of doublespeak.

Biography

In 1962, Lutz received his bachelor's degree from the Dominican College of Racine (which closed its doors in 1974). He received his masters degree in English from Marquette University in 1963 and his doctorate in 1971 from the University of Nevada, Reno. Lutz began teaching English at Rutgers University-Camden in 1971, and was made a full professor in 1991. He retired from teaching in 2006.[2]

From 1980 to 1994 Lutz edited the, now defunct, Quarterly Review of Doublespeak.[3][4] He worked as a consultant with a number of corporations and the United States government to promote the use of 'plain language'. For example, he was a significant contributor to the SEC's Plain English Handbook.[5]

Selected publications

References

  1. 1 2 Lutz, William D. (1989) Doublespeak: From "Revenue Enhancement" to "Terminal Living": How Government, Business, Advertisers, and Others Use Language to Deceive You Harper & Row, New York, ISBN 0-06-016134-5
  2. ↑ "Retirements of Marie Cornelia and Robert Ryan" The Phoenix Spring 2006, page 1
  3. ↑ "Magazine Reviews:Quarterly Review of Doublespeak" Chip's Closet Cleaner
  4. ↑ "William D. Lutz" NNDB
  5. ↑ United States Securities and Exchange Commission (1998) A plain English handbook: how to create clear SEC disclosure documents Office of Investor Education and Assistance, United States. Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, DC, OCLC 36595293
  6. ↑ Lutz, William D. (1974) The Age of Communication Goodyear Pub. Co., Pacific Palisades, California, ISBN 0-87620-013-7
  7. ↑ Lutz, William D. (1994) The Cambridge Thesaurus of American English Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, ISBN 0-521-41427-X

Further reading

External links

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