05.26.08
The author clears his throat . . .
. . . practices his growl, and cracks his knuckles before setting out to type these very words of introduction to the web-log for the book Everything You Know About English Is Wrong. (No, it is not a [can I bear to type it?] “blog.” It is a web-log, for the reasons stated here.)
This first post seeks to introduce this new title from Sourcebooks, now hitting the bookstores (and I expect people to be hitting me back soon). I’m going to step aside for this first post and mention a couple of early comments:
If you love language and the unvarnished truth, you’ll love Everything You Know About English Is Wrong. You’ll have fun because his lively, comedic, skeptical voice will speak to you from the pages of his word-bethumped book.
That’s Richard Lederer, who wrote such wonderful word books as Anguished English, Get Thee to a Punnery and Word Wizard. Thank you Richard.
Beginning with his “English Delusionary” (a glossary of words created solely for this volume), Bill Brohaugh wants to make one thing perfectly clear: He spends a great deal of time considering irregularities in the English language and our repetitive abuse of them. This is not necessarily a bad thing because Brohaugh, the former editor of Writer’s Digest, isn’t cranky about usage issues. Rather, he’s quite amused. Items that have rendered other linguists apoplectic, seem to merit his mirth. Double negatives? Great! Ending a sentence with a preposition? You betcha! Fond of your ”ain’t”? Have at it! Brohaugh embraces the colloquial while providing insights into just how we arrived at such a comfy kind of grammar. Employing ample pop culture references, he reminds us that “the broken are made to be rules” when it comes to the English language. The book provides a good counterpoint to Lynne Truss’s anxiety-inducing Eats, Shoots & Leaves and will be enjoyed by everyone who can’t quite admit to being amused by William Safire because they can’t get past his politics. In other words, Brohaugh is funner.
That’s from a blog on FeatureBook.com. (Wow!–funner than Safire! Though that’s most of the world, but I’ll take it anyway.) Thanks FeatureBook.com.
Better plotted than a glossary, more riveting than a thesaurus, more filmable than a Harry Potter index–and that’s just Brohaugh’s footsnorts–I mean feetsnotes–um, feetsneets?–good gravy I’m glad I’m just a cartoonist.
That’s from John Caldwell, more-or-less homeless resident cartoonist with Mad magazine. Thanks, John. I think.
That’s the introduction. Rants to follow in succeeding posts, when I can’t expect the above-mentioned good folks to do my work for me. But I’ll leave you with one last quote:
Everything you know about English is the sort of errant pedantry up with which I shall not put.
That was not said by Winston Churchill. And the familiar-sounding quote often attributed to him was not said by him, either. And such things are the entire point of the book.
, 
and 
. Feel free to 
Jim Probasco said,
May 27, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I would like to take this opportunity to be first at something. In this case, I will be first at posting a comment on Bill’s web-log. Unless someone else beat me to it while I was typing this.
I have read (the dedication in) Bill’s book. I found it to be orderly and filled with the names of people, some of whom I know to be living. Excellent work, Bill. I can’t wait to read the title and after that, perhaps the Table of Contents. Jim
Bill Brohaugh said,
May 28, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I’m sorry, Jim. What did you say in your comment? I didn’t read it.