Complete Naff Guide

By Kit Bryson

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0099317605
• ISBN13: 9780099317609
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Arrow Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Classic 1980s culture critique deserving of a revival

The Complete Naff Guide was one of the publishing "events" of the 1980s, and one of my favourite non-serious reads throughout my teens (I was twelve when it came out). That I still have a well-thumbed copy some twenty years later testifies to its enduring silliness and entertainment value.It's pretty much a toilet book, a series of humorous, often rude and frequently politically incorrect lists ostensibly setting out to define what was at that time out of style, clicheéd and overdone in all areas of life. Indeed, the tagline was "an indispensable work of reference for anyone anxious to avoid being at the wrong place saying the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time of day". But it also defined a number of things which are eternally useless and should never have been (and probably never were) fashionable in the first place. The 1970s took a particularly heavy blow, with high voices, long hair, spandex trousers and medallion men now the very definition of naffness. That seemed par for the course, but it was ahead of its time; Jim Davidson for example appeared under "Naff Comedians" even though he'd only been around for a few months (and he's still naff in 2003). The 250+ pages cover, among many other areas, "Naff Things the French do on a Beach", "Naff Parts of the Body", "Naff Jobs", "Naff Restaurants", "Naff First Date Difficulties", "Naff Sports" and "Naff Schools". I thought for years that "Naff Times of the Day" - 10.50am and 2.45pm - was just pure irreverence, but when I left school and went to work I soon understood that these are the most useless moments in the average working day, too far away from lunchtime or coffee-time or tea-time or home-time to do anything but either get down to work or contemplate the meaninglessness of your job.Having said all that, the book didn't take itself seriously - indeed, "naff" itself appears in a list of "Naff Words". It's difficult to say whether it's more a product of its time (Thatcher's Britain) or a reflection of it, and because so many of its references are peculiar to that (very naff) era, it will probably never return to print without a thorough update. But I think this would be a mistake; it's a classic naff book, a period piece of popular culture, and should be kept exactly as it is. On the other hand, if the three authors - or, if some sources are to be believed, its one author, notorious British humorist William Donaldson - would like to write a completely new Naff Guide to Tony Blair's Britain, that would be a different matter. But then, some might say that Tony Blair is beyond parody...