Language is everywhere – so pervasive and ubiquitous that paradoxically it largely travels below the radar. And everywhere it achieves outcomes, some of which are contrived and planned, many of which are unplanned. Language comes out of our mouths, our pens and computers and phones. It also comes into our world via sound and written text. One step removed, perhaps, from our own immediate productive and receptive needs, is language that we're exposed to in textual representations. I'm thinking here primarily of the language we encounter in books, films and various forms of media. This chapter contains a collection of observations made about instances of particular language use as encountered in texts that are intended for the public domain, including films, book titles, television, advertisements, dictionaries, speeches and newspapers.

Judgements on a book's cover

My local second-hand bookstore, Books On Bronte (referring to the Sydney suburb not the writers), takes full advantage of its large front window. A rapid turnaround of titles makes for pleasant gazing on my morning or evening walks with the dog. Indeed, she has learned to stop and sit patiently while I peer at the display.

A recent example – there one morning, gone that evening – was How to Succeed in Business Without a Penis. The owner of the bookstore told me later that it was in the window barely a nanosecond before it was spied and snapped up.

Title-gazing certainly reinforces the power of a book's title.