People urged to cease utilizing ‘anti e book language’ as literature ‘deserves higher’
Literature lovers are urging people to stop using “anti-book language” – to protect books from hate speech. They fear terms such “throw the book at him” and “don’t judge a book by its cover” are turning folk against reading.
And they want them to be consigned to the history books. Eggheads at Goodreads, described as “the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations”, issued the advice on its social media pages. It said: “Books deserve better.”
Their proposals include dropping phrases such as “the judge threw the book at him.” They suggested the alternative: “The very well-read judge analyzed the case and bestowed an appropriately severe sentence.”
Instead of “don’t judge a book by its cover”, they suggested: “Please do admire book covers, which are meticulously designed works of art deserving appreciation.”
For “let’s close the book on this case”, they offered: “Let’s put this topic aside and spend our time reading instead.”
When describing a crooked organisation’s dodgy accounts, they urged followers not to use the phrase “cooking the books.”
Instead, they said we should say: “They creatively reorganised official records.”
And when offering people advice on when to go on holiday, we should not tell them to “book it”, they said.
They preferred: “Depart with haste while leaving your books safely on the shelf where they belong.”
The light-hearted post on the firm’s Instagram page was liked thousands of times.
One fan wrote: “The entire point of a book cover is for you to judge whether the book might be of interest to you.”
Another said: “A lot of times I choose books based on their cover.”
A third quipped: “My week is fully booked.”
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