Remarks About the "Usage Notes" in the New Oxford American Dictionary

[Robert Hartwell Fiske]

Very well, I make 18 remarks about the "Usage Notes"; here's the first of
them:

Remarks  About the "Usage Notes" in the New Oxford American  Dictionary
[1] Yes, a great many people,  whatever their education, do not shrink from
expressing their views on good  usage or bad grammar. The English language
is not the purview solely of the  lexicographers and linguists, the, let us
call them, "lexlings"; it concerns all  of us who speak and write it. We
all, no matter what our station in life, need  to be heedful of how we express
ourselves. Although the NOAD lexlings do not,  here, admit this, lexlings
often disparage people who offer their views on the  English language. If you
do not have an advanced degree in linguistics, these  lexlings maintain, you
do not have the credentials to offer your views on the  language. That
lexlings believe, and sometimes admit they believe, people  unschooled in
linguistics contribute nothing to the debate about usage and  grammar is as inane
as it is insulting.
In the September issue of The Vocabula Review:
_www.vocabula.com_ (http://www.vocabula.com/)

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