Grammar, Usage, Standards: Passe?

[Rick Barr]

Indeed, the list could go on. The third (and latest) edition of Bryan A.
Garner's usage dictionary (now renamed *Garner's Modern American Usage*) is
prefaced by two essays written by Garner on the subject ("Making Peace in
the Language Wars," "The Ongoing Struggles of Garlic-Hangers").

There is a forceful, non-linguistic take on prescriptivism by writer David
Foster Wallace. It was first published on *Harper's* as a review of the
first edition of Garner's usage dictionary. That article was called "Tense
Present: Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage." It was reprinted as
"Authority and American Usage" in Wallace's essay collection *Consider the
Lobser*. It's worth reading.



On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 1:07 PM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Grammar, Usage, Standards: Passe?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The list could go on endlessly, but one book I've used successfully is
> Bolinger's _Language:  The Loaded Weapon_.
>
> Herb
>
> On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 9:09 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Grammar, Usage, Standards: Passe?
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On 6/9/10 12:01 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> >> Are there any other forums where my questions would be better asked?=A0
> Any=
> >>   PRINT publications, for the layman?
> >> =A0
> >> Are there any=A0books that deal with this, and recent changes in the
> langua=
> >> ge?=A0 In, say, the last 5, 10 or 15 years?
> >
> > For print sources for the layman:
> >
> > _
> >
> > _The Student's Introduction to English Grammar_ by Huddleston and Pullum
> > for a real descriptive grammar that discusses prescriptivist stuff as
> well.
> >
> > _Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage_ which discusses
> > prescriptivist rules, examines what people actually do, looks at how
> > things have changed, and then gives you some wise advice.
> >
> > Woe Is I_ by Patricia O'Conner or _The Origins of the Specious_ by
> > Patricia O'Conner and Stewart Kellerman. The first is middle-ground
> > handbook -- still doling out "it is done this way" guidelines, but
> > throwing out the more ridiculous prescriptivist dicta. The latter is
> > more on false etymologies, but one chapter is a redux of the ridiculous
> > prescriptivist dicta.
> >
> > First chapters of _Word on the Street_ by John McWhorter, specifically
> > "Leave Your Language Alone: The 'Speech Error' Hoax."
> >
> > _The Fight for English_ by David Crystal, written specifically in
> > response to the zero-tolerance attitude of such works as Eats, Shoots
> > and Leaves. It's a history of language punditry.
> >
> > Similarly, the recent _The Lexicographer's Dilemma_ by Jack Lynch.
> >
> > More academic: _Grammar and Good Taste_ by Dennis Baron for the politics
> > and ideology of prescriptivism, reform, and punditry
> >
> > _Language Myths_ edited by Bauer and Trudgill -- mostly British English
> > focused but still relevant to American English issues.
> >
> > Read The Word column in the Boston Globe by Jan Freeman and Erin McKean;
> > On Language by Ben Zimmer; listen to A Way with Words with Grant Barrett
> > (I listen to the podcast).
> >
> > --
> > ---Amy West
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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