This review of the book Perform or… From Discipline to Performance (Krakow 2011) is a thorough meta-linguistic analysis. Maciąg deciphers the linguistic mechanisms McKenzie uses. The keys to the American researcher’s theories are the terms performance and challenger, and the concept of the "lecturing machine". McKenzie does not, however, formulate precise definitions, he only "illustrates the performative aspect of speaking through one’s own special, iterative speech about oneself (about one’s words and in one’s words)".