New York: Oxford University Press,- With expansive explora-
tion of hundreds of examples,
the authors discuss the aspects
and implications of “good-sound-
ing” versus “bad-sounding” slo-
gans, phrases, and words.
Lederer, Richard.Fractured English.
New York: Pocket Books, 1996.
In anecdotal form, Lederer ex-
plores the hilarity of a language
as it is bastardized. A pure delight
for any language aficionado.
Reid, Luc.Talk the Talk: The Slang
of Sixty-five American Subcultures.
New York: Writer’s Digest Books, - As the title suggests, this
book is a fascinating survey of the
slang specific to subcultures and
countercultures alike.
Tompkins, Jim.Think Outside the Box: The Most Trite,
Generic, Hokey, Overused, Clichéd, or Unmotivating
Motivational Slogans. Raleigh, N.C.: Tompkins As-
sociates, 2001. Though seemingly more appeal-
ing to advertisers and marketers, this book is a
charming satire on the slogans that have been
tried and died. Amusing and informative at the
same time.
Roxanne McDonald
See also Advertising; Alternative rock; Cable tele-
vision; Cell phones; Computers; Generation Y;
Grunge music; Hip-hop and rap music; Internet;
Music; Scandals; Spoken word movement; Televi-
sion; Video games.
Smith, Susan
Identification Woman convicted of murdering
her two small sons
Born September 26, 1971; Union, South Carolina
Smith’s crime resulted in one of the 1990’s most notorious,
internationally covered investigations and trials.
During the evening of October 25, 1994, Susan Smith
reported to authorities that she and her sons had
been carjacked by a black man while she was driving
along a deserted road. According to Smith, sometime
during the purported abduction the man ordered
her out of the car at gunpoint and sped off with her
terrified children, three-year-old Michael and four-
teen-month-old Alex. The sheriff initially accepted
her story and immediately called for assistance.
Nationwide BOLO (be on the lookout), televi-
sion spots, and even Internet groups urged the pub-
lic’s help in the search. The charade lasted for more
than a week. With each passing day, racial tensions
and distrust grew as Smith’s story came under in-
creasing scrutiny. Finally, after nine days of fruitless
efforts to locate her children, the car, or a black male
suspect, Smith confessed to rolling her car into a
nearby lake while her sons were asleep in the back.
Divers later recovered the car with the bodies of the
children still strapped in their car seats.
Initial public support quickly turned to anger and
revulsion. The public had been duped by a mother
who had callously murdered her children. Blacks
had to endure an undercurrent of racial finger-
pointing unleashed when Smith falsely claimed that
a black man was the culprit.
Smith’s trial began on July 10, 1995. Since she had
confessed in a death penalty case, her defense team
argued that Smith, though not insane, was psycho-
logically disturbed as a result of a traumatic child-
hood that had included sexual molestation by her
stepfather and her own failed suicide attempts. The
children’s deaths, her lawyers further argued, were
the culmination of severe depression and part of an-
other suicide attempt that she managed to over-The Nineties in America Smith, Susan 781
Susan Smith, shown here in police mug shots released after her arrest in 1994, re-
ceived a sentence of thirty years to life for the murder of her two sons.(AP/Wide
World Photos)