Aug 21 2008
This is the one that is about literally the most annoying grammar book ever.
The latest book that I picked up was Literally, the Best Language Book Ever: Annoying Words and Abused Phrases You Should Never Use Again by Paul Yeager. [Amazon] My boyfriend loves this book, and I stole it from him to fill the gap between the last fiction novel I read and the one that I’ll be reading next. A little non-fiction to clear my palate. Unfortunately, this palate cleanser ended up being incredibly bitter.
Yeager is annoying.
I almost gave up on this book on the chapter about making nouns into verbs. Yeager writes that people should stop using “google” as a verb. The sentence “If you don’t know, just Google it.” is grammatically incorrect according to Yeager. He says that “Google” is a noun, and shouldn’t be used in this way. Annoying. I understand that “Google” is a noun, but my choice to use it as a verb is just a sign of the changing times.
He also complains about people saying “DVR it” or “TiVo it” because those are both nouns, and shouldn’t be used as verbs. Sorry Gramps, but we like our long hair and rock and roll.
This book is just a list of one guy’s pet peeves, and the tone is incredibly negative. We all know someone that enjoys nitpicking the grammar of other people, and this book is like suffering through a 208 page conversation with her.
Yeager’s introduction tells the reader that he is a lover of grammar, and for this reason he has written this book. Yet the way that he stubbornly adheres to venerable grammatic canon only makes him a lover of archaic grammar. I, on the other hand, am a progressive lover of language. And I understand that language is fluid - and that as our culture changes, so will our language.
My Next Read: The Road by Cormac McCarthy
@cheapblueguitar you leaving?? Or just singing?
Actually, Google have lodged an official complaint against people using term ‘To Google something’ feeling it waters down the title. Afterall, to ‘google something’ simply means to do a search for it. You can use any search engine you like for that! So if you use the term ‘to google’ they probably actually wirte to you to complain nowadays…
“and this book is like suffering through a 208 page conversation with her.” Not “them”, but “her”. Thinking of someone in particular?
Really?? I would have guessed the opposite…that Google would enjoy being known as the generic term for using a search engine.
I work with children and computers, and when they need to search for something, they automatically use Google. In fact I explained to a child just this week that Yahoo! can be used for searching too.
Like Kleenex and Coke, I think that it says a lot about the power of that brand when people need to be reminded that the name that they are using is referring to a specific brand and not the generic name of the product.
Either way, the author of this book was super annoying.
Ironically, the pronoun argument was one of the few arguments that Yeager made in this book that I agree with.
Too often people bring up a singular subject (like my “We all know someone that enjoys…”) and then follow that with plural pronouns (like them). I could have easily said “him or her” instead of just “her.” But I tend to use the feminine pronoun when I get to choose just because I’ve got a little feminism in me somewhere.
BTW, did you get a mohawk?!? I think I remember seeing it on one of the many social network sites that we are connected on.
I’m with you on language being fluid. Hell, my friends and I have fun seeing exactly how much “verbing” we can do. Which, in it self, is making the noun verb a verb. I don’t think “Coke” counts though, because I would never order a coke and expect anything other than coca-cola. That’s regional dialect thing. Did the author take contentions with those? But you’re still right (thermos, baind-aid, jello, etc).
Well, I did love this book. I found it to be amusing and full of useful information. Language should be fluid and change with the times. I’m sure there are plenty of cases where nouns have actually become verbs based on their usage, but it probably takes time and Google hasn’t been around long enough. ”ATM Machine” - I hate that one!”Borrowed something to someone” is another classic.
I work with one lady who constantly mispronounces and misuses words…and seems to love the ‘ole double negative.
The other loves to say things along the lines of “I borrowed him some money…” Never had heard that one before, but instantly hated it.