Most of us are under verbal attack everyday and often don't realize it. In "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" you'll learn the skills you need to respond to all types of verbal attack

Getting your point across with the gentle art of verbal self-defense.

Verbal Judo is the martial art of the mind and mouth that can show you how to be better prepared in every verbal encounter. Listen and speak more effectively, engage people through empathy (the most powerful word in the English language), avoid the most common conversational disasters, and use proven strategies that allow you to successfully communicate your point of view and take the upper hand in most disputes. Verbal Judo offers a creative look at conflict that will help you defuse confrontations and generate cooperation from your spouse, your boss, and even your teenager. As the author says, "when you react, the event controls you. When you respond, you’re in control." This new edition features a fresh new cover and a foreword demonstrating the legacy of Verbal Judo founder and author George Thompson, as well as a never-before-published final chapter presenting Thompson’s "Five Universal Truths" of human interaction.

Offers advice on identifying the verbal bullies in one's life, determining the difference between abuse and "kidding around," turning negative comments to one's advantage, and delivering verbal defense appropriately and confidently

First published in 1984, Native Tongue earned wide critical praise, and cult status as well. Set in the twenty-second century after the repeal of the Nineteenth Amendment, the novel reveals a world where women are once again property, denied civil rights, and banned from public life. In this world, Earth’s wealth relies on interplanetary commerce, for which the population depends on linguists, a small, clannish group of families whose women breed and become perfect translators of all the galaxies’ languages. The linguists wield power, but live in isolated compounds, hated by the population, and in fear of class warfare. But a group of women is destined to challenge the power of men and linguists. Nazareth, the most talented linguist of her family, is exhausted by her constant work translating for the government, supervising the children’s language education in the Alien-in-Residence interface chambers, running the compound, and caring for the elderly men. She longs to retire to the Barren House, where women past childbearing age knit, chat, and wait to die. What Nazareth does not yet know is that a clandestine revolution is going on in the Barren Houses: there, word by word, women are creating a language of their own to free them of men’s domination. Their secret must, above all, be kept until the language is ready for use. The women’s language, Láadan, is only one of the brilliant creations found in this stunningly original novel, which combines a page-turning plot with challenging meditations on the tensions between freedom and control, individuals and communities, thought and action. A complete work in itself, it is also the first volume in Elgin’s acclaimed Native Tongue trilogy.

In this volume, the author extends her remarkable self-defense tactics against verbal abuse to the business world. Using fully dramatized scenarios that make effective business communications as exciting and suspenseful as a novel, she shows you how to quickly recognize verbal abuse ... gently defuse it ... and replace it with clear, courteous, effective communication.

Verbal abuse comes in many devastating forms--but no matter how or when it occurs, abuse language can have grave long-term consequences for the victim's physical and psychological health and well-being. This book offers readers a practical program for controlling and ending virtually all forms of verbal abuse.

For some employees, verbal abuse can be the everyday language of doing business. Defending yourself from these verbal abusers—calmly, professionally, and successfully—can be crucial to your on-the-job success. Nationally recognized linguistics expert and author Suzette Haden Elgin applies her acclaimed techniques for combating verbal attacks to common workplace situations. Powerful yet unthreatening, her proven strategies will help you recognize and defend yourself from verbal abuse—everything from casual obscenities and racist or sexist language to sarcasm, cutting jokes, and subtle put-downs. Richly illustrated with fully dramatizes scenarios and real-world examples, Dr. Elgin’s communication techniques will help you instantly take control of any verbal confrontation. You’ll also learn how to avoid “malpractice of the mouth” and sexual harassment; communicate sensitively and clearly with non-native English speakers; and project a strong, straightforward, and trustworthy image. You’ll find tips for handling sensitive issues via email and voice mail, advice on meeting the communication challenges that face home-based and virtual businesses, and plenty of “workouts” placed throughout the book to give you valuable opportunities to practice your new skills. The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense at Work is your roadmap through the potentially career-threatening minefields of workplace communication.

The final volume in the trilogy feminist science-fiction fans have been waiting for.