Good Info, Bad Practice

books:

	• Dictionary of Disagreeable English, Deluxe Edition Robert Hartwell Fiske, Editor and Publisher of Vocabula Review Writers Digest Books, 2006 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Who is he writing for?

You have to wonder who is the target market for texts like this. Does Mr. Fiske seek to guide writers who wish to write more carefully and clearly? He may not win friends with his habits of labelling the usages he condemns, and therefore the writers who use them, as "idiotic" and "uneducated." A text that brought forth similar counsel in a gentler way might be more helpful to those readers.

Or is this sort of writing a kind of supercilious humor, meant to entertain those who know they know better, for folks who enjoy learning of the usage pratfalls of the high and mighty. The collected examples are good, but they are too few in number to sustain that sort of interest throughout.

The usages condemned are, like most prescriptionist texts, a mixed bag of polysyllabic overreaching, developing senses, and simple misspellings. Most of them are wise counsel; we don't need "to destruct" for "to destroy," and "to consequentialize" for "to punish" is a grating euphemism. There are, of course, a few less defensible choices here, such as his condemnation of "also known as" and its abbreviation "a.k.a."; it may be overused, but is too useful to let go, and too well established to eradicate.

He wastes a good deal of ink condemning dictionaries for including senses and words he condemns. This seems misguided; one function of a dictionary is to serve as a guide for the perplexed. Those who find a new sense or neologism in a dictionary need to know what the writer meant by it, more than they need to learn that the writer was imprudent for using it. A dictionary that failed to do this would fail quite radically.

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Readers views of DDE

However curmudgeonly, Mr. Fiske betrays a bluff humanitarian spirit. ... [Fiske] wants to save [the English language]. And he knows that he can count on little help. Dictionaries "have virtually no standards, offer scant guidance, and advance only misunderstanding." His own flogging of Merriam-Webster's is one of the many pleasures of this lovely, sour, virtuous book. -- Wall Street Journal

(For) people who get a delicious kick out of getting incensed at loosey-goosey usage. -- William Safire, New York Times

I recently purchased your Dictionary of Disagreeable English, a delightful little book with a somewhat depressing, big message. I find myself chuckling from page to page. Thanks for the entertainment! -- Teresa Jones

We will continue to look to you for guidance and help in preserving the elegance of the English language. -- Christel Marin

Please accept my congratulations on a wonderful and very useful book. -- Frank Boccia

I'm enjoying the heck out of Disagreeable English. -- Ron Harris

As a technical writer, I consult your Dictionary of Disagreeable English often, to "insure" that my documents don't fall "pray" to lazy language. -- Tristan MacAvery

The Dictionary of Disagreeable English was one of my favorite Christmas presents this season. -- Ralph Shelton

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Good Info, Bad Practice

RHF's book provides good information. But the format of it is poor: repeated examples of improper usage stand out; corrections are quietly noted after each blunder. I would prefer a learning tool like this to emphasize the proper usage and only quietly note the common mistake.

Authored by one of the country's leading curmudgeons, the deluxe edition of "The Dictionary of Disagreeable English" provides 50 percent more content than the popular original, as well as a beautiful hardcover package. This grouchy and engaging compendium: shows readers the right and wrong way to use language; shares a range of examples of errors from famous publications, like Mother Jones, and public figure like Bill O'Reilly, Oprah Winfrey, George W. Bush and more; and engages readers with a witty, sour and totally original take on the English Language. Anyone who works with language or takes delight in watching people screw it up will welcome this deluxe and expanded edition of Fiske's book.

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