The lexicographer's dilemma
Subtitle: the evolution of proper English, from Shakespeare to South Park
By: Jack Lynch.
Publisher: Walker & Co.
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 326
ISBN-13: 9780802717009
Subjects: English language -- Lexicography; English language -- History; English language -- Style; English language -- Usage
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Vulgarities of speech: homo sapiens learns to talk; title: The age in which I live: John Dryden revises his works; title: Proper words in proper places: Jonathan Swift demands an academy; title: Enchaining syllables, lashing the wind: Samuel Johnson lays down the law; title: The art of using words properly: Joseph Priestley seeks genuine and established principles; title: The people in these states: Noah Webster Americanizes the language; title: Words, words, words: James Murray surveys anglicity; title: The taste and fancy of the speller: George Bernard Shaw rewrites the ABCs; title: Direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid: Henry Watson Fowler shows the way; title: Sabotage in Springfield: Philip Gove Stokes the flames; title: Expletive deleted: george carlin vexes the censors; title: grammar, and nonsense, and learning: we look to the future.