Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
[...](FYI: although it's become commonly misused, a "blurb" is not a description of the book. A blurb is when someone gives you a short critique or comment or praise, which is in turn placed on the book, either on the back cover, front cover, or praise page.) [...]
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This is one of those things that seems to vary with regional usage - which is a bit odd, since everyone acknowledges the word as American slang.
eg:
dictionary.com shows its main definition as
"a brief advertisement or announcement, especially a laudatory one: She wrote a good blurb for her friend's novel.", but then goes on to show a "British Dictionary" definition of
"a promotional description, as found on the jackets of books".
From the Oxford English Dictionary:
"A brief descriptive paragraph or note of the contents or character of a book, printed as a commendatory advertisement, on the jacket or wrapper of a newly published book. Hence in extended use: a descriptive or commendatory paragraph."
I have an Australian published book here, written by two Australian journalists/freelance writers, about writing proposals for publishers (and related topics). They definitely use "blurb" in the wider sense described by the British English definitions given above.