Synopses & Reviews
A comprehensive, authoritative, and charmingly grumpy compendium of misuses of the English language.
Who doesn’t mangle the English language sooner or later? This volume can help anyone; Robert Hartwell Fiske identifies many common mistakes as well as errors made by people who consider themselves far above grammatical reproach. Few readers perusing—which does not mean “skim”—this volume will find errors they have not made themselves. The volume is arranged alphabetically, making consultation a snap.
With more than a thousand entries that reflect errors in spelling, usage, and grammar, this remarkably complete volume includes classics of misuse (“bring” for “take,” “might” for “may,” “being that,” “between” for “among,” “venal” for “venial,”) as well as cringe-worthy idiocies (“and etc.,” “blindsighted,” “prostate” for “prostrate”) and more recent head-slappers (“obfusticate,” “disprefer,” “supposably”).
Anyone interested in better expression or who loves language will be intrigued by the entries. A perfect gift for quasi-illiterate high school students, poorly educated college graduates, myopic graduate students, stalwartly righteous school teachers, under-employed coffeehouse philosophers, stylistically clotted English majors, ambitious journalists, dream-wracked poets, tormented novelists, relentlessly clever bloggers, overworked copyeditors, linguistically straight-jacketed lawyers, corporate rhetoricians of every stripe, memo-challenged bureaucrats, thousand-tasking business chieftains, armchair grammarians, and anyone brave enough to bear witness to the grammatical downfall of Western Civilization.
Review
"However curmudgeonly, Mr. Fiske betrays a bluff humanitarian spirit....[Fiske] wants to save [the English language]. And he knows that he can count on little help. Dictionaries "have virtually no standards, offer scant guidance, and advance only misunderstanding." His own flogging of Merriam-Webster's is one of the many pleasures of this lovely, sour, virtuous book." -The Wall Street Journal
Synopsis
Robert Hartwell Fiske aims to eliminate laxity in language today by way of this witty and engaging reference.
Fiske rails against "laxicographers and ding-a-linguists" who, with their misguided thinking, actually promote the dissolution of the English language. He also illustrates why dictionaries don't always provide the correct meaning or usage of a word. With concise instruction and numerous examples of misused words, Fiske makes it easier than ever to learn from others' mistakes.
This comprehensive dictionary of common misusages lays bare the mistakes we all make every day. Robert Hartwell Fiske, the grumbling grammarian of our time, shows you the definitive right way and wrong way to use language--and illustrates why dictionaries don't always provide the correct meaning or usage of a word.
About the Author
Robert Hartwell Fiske is the editor and publisher of The Vocabula Review