3/14/22

The author does his best to say that English is a dynamic and changing language when it comes to usage and pronunciation. This does not really help me deal with people who persist in misspelling, improper punctuation, and improper pluralization. ( )

A nice change after Crystal, Partridge, Truss - Lederer is a scholar, but this is a more playful book. He makes us learn, and think, but mostly he encourages us to love to communicate and to play with words and to explore grammar etc. What made this even more palatable is that it's a mixed set of short essays. They fit together nicely, but if one is too abstruse or annoying (I don't like puns) it's ok to scan it and go to the next. And they're all a little different, some poignant, some purely silly, some a bit analytical. I was surprised just how much I enjoyed almost all of the book.

One of the things I learned is how prevalent the claims of 'spook etymologists' can become. Read for yourself how wrong is the common claim for the origin of 'posh' and know that the French say 'no score' in tennis and so 'love' is not from 'l'ouef.' I also appreciate that he advises pedants to choose their battles carefully - but I disagree with him that the abuse of 'unique' is one to let by. And I like his lists - especially that of gratuitously syllabified (not syllabificated) words. ( )