A dense, significant history. Had it been shorter and otherwise more reader-friendly, it could have made waves. Regrettably,...
A celebrated linguist argues that all versions of English are created equal and that the reign of Emily Post–prescriptivists who insist that Standard English is “right” and all the rest “wrong” is nearing its end.
Crystal (Language Death, not reviewed) has an interesting point: If Standard English is really so standard (and invariable), why are there so many different usage manuals out there? Why do so many English words have variant spellings? The author insists that one of the functions of Standard English is to marginalize those who don’t (or can’t) employ it, and he realizes, too, the ugly class and racial implications. He does not urge schools to eschew the teaching of Standard English, but he does suggest that teachers lighten up, that they not make students feel their particular version of English is inferior. Crystal says that the best users of English are those who have a capacious closet full of linguistic clothing to wear. Throughout this massive and learned and often provocative tome, the author demonstrates repeatedly that common conceptions about language are often historically inaccurate—split infinitives bothered no one until recently (likewise sentence-ending prepositions). Crystal educates in a variety of ways. He expands his fairly traditional discursive text by following each chapter with an “interlude” that focuses on some particular issue (e.g., the history of “y’all”), and each chapter contains boxed inserts that expand the context of the subject (e.g., details about John Caxton and Noah Webster). And there are numerous maps and charts of various sorts, including a dandy that illustrates why, in our legal system, we often use double constructions (“fit and proper,” “will and testament”). It’s principally ignorance that fluffs Crystal’s feathers: Ahistorical language purists annoy him as do those who make spurious and excessive claims for, say, the contributions of Shakespeare to the lexicon.
A dense, significant history. Had it been shorter and otherwise more reader-friendly, it could have made waves. Regrettably, only ripples will likely ensue. (9 b&w illustrations; 12 maps)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2004
ISBN: 1-58567-601-2
Page Count: 608
Publisher: Overlook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2004
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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