Bad English by Ammon Shea

Bad English by Ammon Shea

The author of Reading the OED presents an eye-opening look at language "mistakes" and how they came to be accepted as correct-or not.

English is a glorious mess of a language, cobbled together from a wide variety of sources and syntaxes, and changing over time with popular usage. Many of the words and usages we embrace as standard and correct today were at first considered slang, impolite, or just plain wrong.

Whether you consider yourself a stickler, a nitpicker, or a rule-breaker in the know, Bad English is sure to enlighten, enrage, and perhaps even inspire. Filled with historic and contemporary examples, the book chronicles the long and entertaining history of language mistakes, and features some of our most common words and phrases, including-

Decimate
Hopefully
Enormity
That/which
Enervate/energize
Bemuse/amuse
Literally/figuratively
Ain't Irregardless
Socialist
OMG
Stupider

Lively, surprising, funny, and delightfully readable, this is a book that will settle arguments among word lovers-and it's sure to start a few, too.

Ammon Shea is the author of Depraved English, Insulting English, and The Phone Book, as well as Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages. He has served as a consulting editor of American dictionaries at Oxford University Press and is a dictionary collector. He has also written for the Sunday New York Times' On Language section and reviewed language books for the New York Times Book Review. He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780399165580
ISBN 10	0399165584
Title	Bad English
Author	Ammon Shea
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published	2015-06-02
Number of pages	272
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.