Word Court: Wherein Verbal Virtue Is Rewarded, Crimes Against the Language Are Punished, and Poetic Justice Is Done [Paperback]

Barbara Wallraff (Author), Francine Prose (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0156011182 | ISBN-13: 978-0156011181 | Edition: Reprint

By the author of the Atlantic Monthly's highly popular column "Word Court," the most engaging grammar guide of our time, with all the authority of Strunk and White and all the fun of Woe Is I.

The "Judge Judy of Grammar" was born when the Atlantic Monthly's Barbara Wallraff began answering grammar questions on America Online. This vibrant exchange became the magazine's bimonthly "Word Court," and eventually the bestselling hardcover book, Word Court.

In Word Court, Wallraff moves beyond her column to tackle common and uncommon items, establishing rules for such issues as turns of phrase, slang, name usage, punctuation, and newly coined vocabulary. With true wit, she deliberates and decides on the right path for lovers of language, ranging from classic questions-Is "a historical" or "an historical" correct?-to awkward issues-How long does someone have to be dead before we should all stop calling her "the late"? Should you use "like" or "as"-and when?

The result is a warmly humorous, reassuring, and brilliantly perceptive tour of how and why we speak the way we do.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Do you find the errors on a menu before the waiter has a chance to recite the specials? Is "Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received" as grating to you as fingernails on a blackboard? Would you cringe if an advertisement for your child's school promised a "low teacher-to-student ratio"? If so, Barbara Wallraff's Word Court is a book without which you cannot live. For seasoned wordsmiths, books about language can entertain; on occasion they may also enlighten. But rare is the book such as this that can teach an old pro so many new tricks, and in such a delightful manner. If you are a reader of Wallraff's "Word Court" column for The Atlantic Monthly, you will have already seen much of what is included here. If not, caveat lector: Though there is an index, this book is arranged in such a way that one may well find oneself reading the proverbial "one more page" long into the night.

"What I know about language," says Wallraff, "derives chiefly from my having edited, line by line and word by word, other people's writing over the past two decades." In Word Court, Wallraff addresses changes in the language, questions of grammar, issues concerning specific words and phrases, and a bunch of other, uncategorizable linguistic concerns. She recommends rewriting in order to avoid problems ("recast, recast"), treading carefully when you don't want controversial word use to obscure your point, and forgiving significant others "for any lapse of grammar committed in a bathrobe, before the coffee is ready." This book is delicious. And I'll bet your first-edition Fowler that Wallraff even introduces a few issues you may never have considered (perhaps the exceptional which, "picnic's grandmother" constructions, or those rare instances in which a sentence's two grammatically independent clauses should not--I repeat, not--be separated by a comma). --Jane Steinberg --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Here are two new books by well-known columnists/language mavens. Safire is funny, thought-provoking, and, after 20 years of writing columns for the New York Times Magazine, an American institution. Gathering these columns and including many letters from readers, his book focuses on the way our language was used historically and how it is used now. The columns are clever and highly readable, and some of the letters from readers are just as much fun. Wallraff has been writing her witty column for The Atlantic Monthly for many years. Partly a style and usage manual that will be valuable for reference and on the corner of a writing desk, this book is also a written lecture by a great English teacher. Safire and Wallraff cover some of the same ground and sometimes differ, one notable example being the use of the article an before words that start with h such as historian. The best part of these books is, in most instances, that the "right" usage is not as important as reading about how the authors formed their opinions. Safire may have a slight edge owing to name recognition, but both books will put smiles on many a reader's face.ALisa J. Cihlar, Monroe P.L., WI
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (August 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156011182
• ISBN-13: 978-0156011181
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,249,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 73 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I Plead Guilty to Enjoying This Book Immensely January 13, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

Seriously, though: this book is the best I've seen come along in recent years on the subject of English language and usage. It's also a lot of fun to read. As someone who cares deeply about "getting it down right," it's a great relief to know there are people out there whose job it is to pay attention to how our language is evolving (or not), especially in this age of computerese and political correctness. Wallraff manages to impart a wealth of useful information with a light, witty touch. She seems to answer almost every frustrating question I've ever had about English. Word Court is essential if your craft is writing, or even if you merely enjoy thinking about language. The book has earned a spot on my shelf, right next to the old classics like Fowler and Strunk & White. I highly recommend it.

74 of 78 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Word Court January 26, 2000

By Carl B. Tisch MD

Format:Hardcover

I have been an ardent afficiando of the English language for many decades and have a large, though incomplete library of books on the subject. Based on its description, I had to order this one. It arrived and, to my surprise, I am reading it as I might any other book rather than using it only as a reference. It is helpful, full of great information and points-of-view. I cannot praise it enough. It is a major contribution to the subject and absolutely delightful, as well. Barbara Wallraff need not take a back seat to Fowler, on that account.

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book! January 6, 2000

By Toby Lester

Format:Hardcover

I'm an avid collector of language-reference books, and use them for both professional and personal purposes. This is one of the best I've found. It's fun to read (a rare characteristic in this genre) but is also terrifically informative. In addition to covering all sorts of routine questions about grammar and usage, it also offers advice on topics that nobody else seems to address. For example, where else can you find out whether temperatures may be "cold" or must be "low"? This is a book that's definitely worth having on one's desk -- and at one's bedside!

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Every page a delight March 2, 2000

By Joel Baron

Format:Hardcover

What an absolute joy this book was to read; like sitting down and having coffee alone with the author for a few hours and delighting in the stories of her life. I found her informal style as engaging as the stories she was telling, and have been seen in trains, airplanes, and my bed laughing out loud at her witty comments. She believes in our language but is always modern in her views. Never doctrinaire, but never lax in her respect for the rules that assure the best communication. Can't wait to read "More Word Court".

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Words that edify, enlighten and amuse January 9, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

No, not another how-to-write and grammar book, but a terrific book about our language, how we use it, its peculiarities and ours. Her magazine readers (she writes a column for The Atlantic) have asked her lots of crazy questions, which she answers in thoughtful and amusing ways. You can read this for fun - or as a reference. Either way, it really works.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Richard Mallery, it's time to move on. January 7, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

Barbara Wallwrath makes effective writing and speaking a joy. In my judgement her WORD COURT is the reference you will want to use for real expertise on grammar and language. Don't miss her ruling on the guy in the raincoat and the bit about question marks. It is hilarious as well as instructive. I won't spoil the joke here; see for yourself.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You couldn't ask for anything more. May 15, 2000

By "22charlie"

Format:Hardcover

What could be more fun to a proofreader and freelance editor than reading an engaging, enjoyable, enlightening, entertaining, n-th degree perfect book on the proper use of our English language. It's a delightful education with many smiles.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars fun, Fun and MORE FUN! October 26, 2000

By Dennis Littrell HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

This is the kind of grammar/usage book that one can sink his fangs into with pure appetite and eat until bloated. Personally I devoured the whole thing in a setting and a half. Judge Barbara, like TV's Judge Judy, can come down on the foolish and the guilty with the sort of gusto that makes one want to stand up and clap hands. For example on page 135 she lectures one of her misguided correspondents: "I have hundreds of years of tradition and literature behind me... And behind you are...children?" Alternatively, she can dismiss the pretentious or deluded with a smooth satirical word or two, as on page 53 where we find a correspondent unhappy with the meaning of the phrase "French bath." "The phrase...always meant to me covering body odor with perfume...[but] the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang reads, <An erotic act consisting of extensive licking of the partner's body.> [Paragraph break] I would like my version to become more accepted." Wallraff responds, "I didn't know what to say to that. Finally I wrote back: [Paragraph break] Bonne chance!"

Her Fowler-like humor aside, what's great about Judge Barbara is that while authoritative and incisive and usually right--or at least in agreement with my prejudices--she is sometimes woefully "wrong, Wrong, WRONG!" (to quote one of her letter writers). For example her idea that informal English, as distinguished from standard English, ought to be labeled "house English" since that is the way we speak around the house, is curiously amiss. (Better yet how about "house arrest" for the good Judge for such an uncouth "improvement"?...) Or the fact that she doesn't "get" in her discussion of "I could care less" on pages 61-62 that the seemingly illogical phrase is in fact IRONIC. (Sorry for the loud caps, but Amazon.com's editor isn't capable of italics, which is a shame, particularly in the present instance.)

All of this keeps us interested. Wallraff is neither a pedant nor a permissive. She wants to "do what we can to ensure that...[the language] changes as slowly as possible" (p. 10). And she wants to do it with humor, as on page 102 where she notes that the sentence, "Time flies when you're having fun," could be a command! Wonderfully she does not explain this; but for those in a hurry here's a hint: use a stop watch. However she is NOT like the French word police who, due to their irrational fear of creeping "franglais," will go to great lengths to protect their language from neologisms and foreign intrusions. Wallraff, for example, does something her mentors, Fowler, Strunk and White, Bernstein, et al., never could do. She consults the Internet for instances of usage! On page 72 she reports about browsing Web sites to see how people are formulating the term, "Health Care," with or without a hyphen, one word or two?

Now a confession: I'm a semi-careful writer, more interested in being incisive than in being pristinely correct. I don't always make a proper distinction between "shall" and "will," (pp. 249-250) and I habitually say "hopefully" when I mean "I hope" or "it is hoped." (pp. 119-120) and I care not a whit whether my infinitives are split or not (pp. 98-100). I used to confuse "which" and "that" but have recently seen the grammatical light (pp. 112-117). My pet peeves include pretentious and PC jargon such as the overuse of "paradigm" when "construct," "body of knowledge" or simply "idea" is meant; or the "woman as victim" use of "empowering" as, after a feminist fringe group meeting in which men are trashed about, it is heard, "That was so empowering!"

To my ears, however, the singular, most annoying usage faux pas is the ungrammatical "between you and I." I would like to observe as an addendum to a reader's discussion on pages 133-134 that "between you and I" is often misused NOT by educated people but by people who unconsciously feel that "I" is somehow grander than "me," especially when THEY are speaking. They may be more educated than the disadvantaged; some may even have attended Yale; but they are usually poorly read and more interested in appearance than substance.

Wallraff mentions the considerable and controversial distinction made between Webster's Second and Third Internationals, and recalls some very fine word experts and usage mavens en route, but curiously does not mention Dwight MacDonald, who wrote a wonderful critique and comparison of those editions that surely Judge Barbara must have read. Also not mentioned are Bergen and Cornelia Evans, authors of the still-influential A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage (1957).

To close (before I exceed Amazon's 1,000-word limit) I should like to recall that while reading Wallraff's discussion of what to call a freshman in this age of PC gender usage, a Neil Simon-like scene came to mind: A darling young thing bounces into her English prof's office and announces her vote: "I'm a freshperson!" To which the professor sagely nods, "Indeed you are." Read more ›