English First: How to Not Talk Like a Christian Yuppie

Communicating the importance of proper diction for Christians, in English First, author Pan Troglodytes provides a guide for learning to talk and write like a humble Christian, in American English. Using both the Bible and the dictionary as resources, Troglodytes shows how to avoid using vogue words, jargon, redundancies, and other overly contrived, complicated, or awkward words that make people look pretentious, conceited, ignorant, and foolish. English First provides a host of examples to help speakers and writers keep their speech and writing plain and simple. It discusses misuses and mispronunciations of words and explains their true meaning and use in American English. For example, the word heinous is pronounced "haynus," not "heenus." The word comprise means "includes, consists of, or contains"; it does not mean "makes up." The whole comprises its parts-the parts make up or compose the whole. In addition to coaching Christians to speak correctly and simply, English First provides an interpretation of words, phrases, and passages in the Bible that speak to today's issues of abortion, homosexuality, and corporal punishment in child rearing.