Book Discussion Guide Questions to take to your class or book
group - Choose a topic on which two of you disagree. One of you
should try to win the argument by agreeing with every one of his
opponent’s points—twisting them slightly or adding to them. Did
it work? - Talk about your own relationships. What are the worst
fights you had? How could you have turned them into productive
arguments? What tense did you use in your fights—past, present,
or future? - Invent new words using the anthimeria. Change a
noun to an adjective (“She was a wonderful greeter; very
doorsome”), an adjective to a noun (“I call a difficult chore a
hard”), a noun to a verb (“All he does is barcalounge”), and so
on. You’re Shakespearicating! - The three basic issues—blame,
values, and choice, are critical to the success or failure of an
argument. Experiment: Take two tempting food items. One of you
should try to persuade another to choose item A over item B,
speaking in forensic rhetoric—accusing someone of something. (If
this seems absu