7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good Info, Bad Practice, January 19, 2007
This review is from: Dictionary of Disagreeable English, Deluxe Edition (Hardcover)
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.
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11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Who is he writing for?, April 13, 2007
This review is from: Dictionary of Disagreeable English, Deluxe Edition (Hardcover)
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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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Readers views of DDE, April 25, 2008
This review is from: Dictionary of Disagreeable English, Deluxe Edition (Hardcover)
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
This reference book is excellent! Thank you, Robert Hartwell Fiske. -- Gary B. Larson
As Fiske illustrates in his book, dictionaries are not what they used to be. Prominent dictionaries, including the vaunted Merriam Webster, have increasingly resorted to including nonstandard English, i.e. improper English, in their texts, all in the name of recording English as it is used, rather than how it should be used. Fiske attacks this concept of "descriptivist" as inexcusable. Although I admit that English does evolve, I am firmly in Fiske's camp -- dictionaries should champion proper English, not popular English. After reading this book, you may find yourself taking up arms in Fiske's war as well. ... In The Dictionary of Disagreeable English, Fiske has compiled a rogue's gallery of painfully incorrect English. If you love acerbic sarcasm, you're in for a treat. Fiske's acidic commentary is frequently laugh out loud funny, as are the truly hideous examples of murdered grammar which Fiske has culled from journalists, celebrities, and politicians. As much fun as this book is to read, The Dictionary of Disagreeable English is also a handy, informative guide to avoiding the most common grammatical pitfalls. Fiske lists frequent misspellings, misuses (my favorite being "grisly" for "grizzly"), mispronunciations, and non existent words which are used with alarming frequency. ... If you are a fellow grammar geek/word nerd, you will adore this book. You will laugh at Fiske's biting wit and you will cry at some of the most foul atrocities that were committed against the English language in the examples provided. The Dictionary of Disagreeable English is the perfect way to both amuse and educate yourself. -- Zella Kate Solomon
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