Things That Make Us (Sic): The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar Takes on Madison Avenue, Hollywood, the White House, and the World [Hardcover]

Martha Brockenbrough (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2008

This book is for people who experience heartbreak over love notes with subject-verb disagreements...for anyone who’s ever considered hanging up the phone on people who pepper their speech with such gems as “irregardless,” “expresso,” or “disorientated”...and for the earnest souls who wonder if it’s “Woe is Me,” or “Woe is I,” or even “Woe am I.”

Martha Brockenbrough’s Things That Make Us (Sic) is a laugh-out-loud guide to grammar and language, a snarkier American answer to Lynn Truss’s runaway success, Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Brockenbrough is the founder of National Grammar Day and SPOGG -- the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar -- and as serious as she is about proper usage, her voice is funny, irreverent, and never condescending. Things That Make Us (Sic) addresses common language stumbling stones such as evil twins, clichés, jargon, and flab, and offers all the spelling tips, hints, and rules that are fit to print. It’s also hugely entertaining, with letters to high-profile language abusers, including David Hasselhoff, George W. Bush, and Canada’s Maple Leafs [sic], as well as a letter to --and a reply from -- Her Majesty, the Queen of England.

Brockenbrough has written a unique compendium combining letters, pop culture references, handy cheat sheets, rants, and historical references that is as helpful as it is hilarious.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Martha Brockenbrough is hilarious."--June Casagrande, author of Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies

"A smart, up-to-the-minute take on the world of words that's funny and
sometimes even bawdy."-- Bill Walsh, author of Lapsing Into a Comma and The Elephants of Style"

"From her founding of the hilariously named SPOGG (Society for the Protection of Good Grammar) to her diligently penned correction letters, Martha Brockenbrough delights grammar mavens while inducing giggles. She's a tidal wave of grammar fun."--Mignon Fogarty, author of Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

"Grammar mavens should rejoice at the appearance of this collection of nifty facts about language. I read it straight through in one sitting!"--Grant Barrett, co-host of KPBS Radio's "A Way With Words" and author of The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English

"Do you ever feel badly or get nauseous? Things That Make Us [Sic] will cure you of those maladies and make you feel properly bad and nauseated about sloppy grammar, usage, and punctuation. It will also give you a generous dose of that best medicine: laughter. With winsome humor and humility, Martha Brockenbrough shows us how to choose language that is clear, precise, and unaffected. She also reminds us, inter alia, that 'irregardless is an irregular word, just as underwear is an irregular hat.'"
-- Charles Harrington Elster, author of Verbal Advantage and What in the Word?

"'Grammar' and 'glamour' have the same derivation: an old Scottish word meaning 'sorcery.' So, good grammar is not merely a glamorous antidote to creeping meatballism, it has the power of the black arts behind it. Martha Brockenbrough is hip to these secrets."-- Tom Robbins, author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Villa Incongnito, and Skinny Legs and All

About the Author

Martha Brockenbrough is the founder of SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, as well as a writer for Encarta.com and the former editor-in-chief of MSN.com. She is the author of It Could Happen to You and lives in Seattle with her family. Please visit her Web sites at www.SPOGG.org, www.thingsthatmakeussic.com and www.nationalgrammarday.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (October 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312378084
• ISBN-13: 978-0312378080
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #350,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Martha Brockenbrough is the author of four books:

- Devine Intervention, a young adult novel about the world's most inept guardian angel and the girl he accidentally kills. Arthur A. Levine is publishing this book on June 1, 2012.
- The Dinosaur Tooth Fairy (forthcoming, Arthur A. Levine Books)
- Things That Make Us [Sic], published in 2008 by St. Martin's Press
- It Could Happen to You, published in 2002 by Andrews McMeel Universal

She writes about pop culture, parenting, and other topics for MSN.com, Women's Health, Parenting, and other publications. Corporate clients include Cozi, Cranium, Hasbro, and Digital Kitchen.

She teaches a course in writing children's literature at the University of Washington (the spring section).

She founded both National Grammar Day and SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. National Grammar Day is every March 4. Mark your calendars!

Martha is on the national blog team for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

She has worked as a newspaper reporter, a high school teacher, and as editor of MSN.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilariously helpful guide to English spelling, grammar and usage., November 2, 2008

By 

David M. Giltinan (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Things That Make Us (Sic): The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar Takes on Madison Avenue, Hollywood, the White House, and the World (Hardcover)

Like a one-woman vigilante, Martha Brockenbrough* exposes assorted crimes against the English language and offers crisp, witty advice on spelling, grammar, and usage to the offenders. Her favored tactic is the open letter, wherein she points out the mistakes in (gently) mocking fashion, then goes on to suggest remedies. All with infinitely greater wit than Lynne Truss, in this reviewer's opinion.

Her point of view is stated with admirable clarity on page 3:

"It is time for those of us who love and respect our language to take it back. Clear, grammatical communication is society's foundation. It is what helps us understand and be understood. If we let that bedrock crumble from neglect, or if we actively chip away at it in a misguided fit of anti-intellectualism, then we run the risk of watching the world around us collapse."

Ms Brockenbrough covers familiar terrain, efficiently and entertainingly, in ten chapters (250 pages):

Grammar for spammers and pop stars.
Vizzinis, Evil Twins, and Vampires.
You Put a Spell on Me.
Vulgar Latin and Latin Lovers.
$%&*#$ Punctuation
No, You Can't Has Cheezburger? The Parts of Speech and How Sentences Form.
Things that Make Us Tense.
Cliches - why Shakespeare is a Pox Upon Us.
The Enemy Within - Flab, Jargon, and the People in your Office.
Rules that Never Were, are no More, and Should be Broken.

Whether taking David Hasselhoff to task for describing his life story as 'heart-rendering' or enumerating all 21 errors in Congressman Mark Foley's now-infamous erotic text message to a congressional page ("the word is not spelled 'buldge'; 'one-eyed snake' needs a hyphen; 'hand job' has only one a"), Martha Brockenbrough is never less than entertaining.

This book is both a welcome, witty salvo in the war against bad English and a hilariously helpful guide on how to avoid it.

*: Ms Brockenbrough is the founder of SPOGG, the Society for Promotion of Good Grammar, whose website is at www.SPOGG.org

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A concise and entertaining grammar reference, October 28, 2008

By 

Book CraZ "BookcraZ" (Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Things That Make Us (Sic): The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar Takes on Madison Avenue, Hollywood, the White House, and the World (Hardcover)

Most grammar reference books are dry and serious, but THINGS THAT MAKE US [sic] is both instructional and entertaining. It's a quick read and a handy reference. I recommend it to anyone who writes for a living, and to folks like me who just like good grammar.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for writers!, October 29, 2008

By 

Cheryl Norman "Cheryl Norman" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Things That Make Us (Sic): The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar Takes on Madison Avenue, Hollywood, the White House, and the World (Hardcover)

I'm a writer by profession and a grammar instructor, too. I urge all writers to keep a copy of this book at their desks. Not only is it humorous and concise, it's well organized for a grammar reference. I don't know the author personally, but I follow her SPOGG blog. Her grammar tips are worth bookmarking, too. (http://spogg.org)