William D. Lutz (; born December 12, 1940) is an American linguist who specializes 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''
[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, ] 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
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
from the
Dominican College of Racine Dominican College of Racine was a college in Racine, Wisconsin founded in 1864 as St. Catherine's Female Academy and later known as St. Albertus Junior College (1935–1946), Dominican College (1946–1957), Dominican College of Racine (1957–197 ...
(which closed its doors in 1974). He received his
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in English from
Marquette University
Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...
in 1963 and his
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
in 1971 from the
University of Nevada, Reno
The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...
. Lutz began teaching English at
Rutgers University-Camden in 1971, and was made a full professor in 1991. He retired from teaching in 2006.
From 1980 to 1994, Lutz edited the now defunct ''Quarterly Review of Doublespeak''. 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''.
Selected publications
* (1974) ''The Age of Communication''
* (1989) ''Doublespeak: From "Revenue Enhancement" to "Terminal Living"'
''
* (1994) ''The Cambridge Thesaurus of American English''
[Lutz, William D. (1994) ''The Cambridge Thesaurus of American English'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, ]
* (1996) ''The New Doublespeak: Why No One Knows What Anyone's Saying Anymore''
* (1999) ''Doublespeak Defined: Cut Through the Bull**** and Get the Point''
References
Further reading
* (1978) ''Contemporary Authors: A bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields'' volumes 33–36, 1st revision, Gale Research, Detroit,
External links
Business DoublespeakA short essay on Doublespeak by Willian Lutz.
*
"SEC seeks to "blow up" forms-based system" ''IR Web Report'' 25 June 2008has photograph of William D. Lutz, as "Bill Lutz", accessed 22 December 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lutz, William D.
Rutgers University faculty
Academics from Wisconsin
Writers from Racine, Wisconsin
Dominican College of Racine alumni
University of Nevada alumni
Marquette University alumni
1940 births
Living people