Patricia T. O'Conner, a former editor at "The New York Times Book
Review," has written four books on language and writing-the
bestselling "Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English
in Plain English; Words Fail Me: What Everyone Who Writes Should
Know About Writing; Woe Is I Jr.: The Younger Grammarphobe's Guide
to Better English in Plain English;" and" You Send Me: Getting It
Right When You Write Online. "
Stewart Kellerman has been an editor at "The New York Times" and a
foreign correspondent for UPI in Asia, Latin America, and the
Middle East. He co-authored You Send Me with his wife, Patricia T.
O'Conner, and he runs their website and blog at grammarphobia.com.
They live in rural Connecticut.
"Every bartender in the land should have a copy of this vastly
amusing and highly informative book. Then when some tipsy bore
declares that posh derives from Port Out, Starboard Home, or that
you must never say disinterested when you mean uninterested, he can
bring it out from behind the jar of cocktail cherries, and smack
him on the head with it." --Simon Winchester, author of "The
Professor and the Madman" and "The Meaning of Everything
"
"With common sense and uncommon wit, O'Conner and Kellerman solve
more mysteries than all the "Law & Order" series combined. Origins
of the Specious will teach you why it is OK to bravely split an
infinitive, why using "ain't" ain't so bad, and why ending a
sentence with a preposition is where it's at."--David Feldman,
author of the "Imponderables" book series
"Origins of the Specious is a witty and informative guide to the
perplexities of the English language. I enjoyed it
immensely."--Stephen Miller, author of "Conversation: A History of
a Declining Art" and "The Peculiar Life of Sundays
""It's right there on page 51: 'it's better to be understood than
to be correct'--pull that out the next time someone corrects your
grandma. This tour de force of our beautifully corrupted language
is both. And dull it ain't. If you're planning to buy just one book
of etymology this year, you've got it right in your
hand."--Garrison Keillor
"Bestselling word maven O'Conner ("Woe Is I") is that rare
grammarian who values clear, natural expression over the mindless
application of rules....Proper English, she contends, is what the
majority of us say it is (though she can't resist making a
traditionalist plea to preserve favored words like "unique" and
"ironic" from corruption). Writers will appreciate O'Conner's
liberating, common-sense approach to the language, and readers the
entertaining sprightliness of her prose."--"Publishers Weekly"
"Happily fresh...Skillfully drawing on the" Oxford English
Dictionary" and.
Praise for "Woe Is I":
"Lighthearted and funny . . . It's like Strunk and White combined
with S. J. Perelman."
--"The New York Times Book Review"
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
