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Your Own Words (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: seven dictionaries, feeling froggy, edited media, Secrets Dictionaries Know, Google News, Read the Manual (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
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Frequently Bought Together

Your Own Words + Word Fugitives: In Pursuit of Wanted Words + Word Court: Wherein Verbal Virtue Is Rewarded, Crimes Against the Language Are Punished, and Poetic Justice Is Done
Price For All Three: $46.71

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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Wallraff, the author of Word Court (2000) and a columnist for the Atlantic Monthly, tells readers how they can answer language questions for themselves. She posits that not even the leading authorities on language agree on many things and that respected reference works don't always agree on how to spell hundreds of words, on what some words mean, and on how to use them properly. "Your own words," Wallraff insists, is about having informed opinions of your own. She explains how to develop a genuine style that's correct and personal, how to choose a dictionary that suits you, and how to seek guidance from sources such as the Internet, newpaper and news organizations' stylebooks, and thesauruses. Wallraff offers this tip for bon vivants: "Curling up with a nice hot cup of cocoa or tea or even a martini can transform reading a new dictionary's front matter from a chore into a rarefied pleasure." George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


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"I think her judgment is flawless. I never disagree with her." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Counterpoint (March 29, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 158243283X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1582432830
  • Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,000,274 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Barbara Wallraff
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Barbara Wallraff Page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
seven dictionaries, feeling froggy, edited media, usage manuals, usage panel, reverse dictionary, usage books, usage note
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Secrets Dictionaries Know, Google News, Read the Manual, Special-Purpose Tools, New York, The Infinite Resource, Webster's Third, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate, Garner's Modern American Usage, Getting the Answers You Want, United States, American English, Khunjerab Pass, Word Court, The American Heritage Dictionary, Alaska Native, The Atlantic, The Chicago Manual of Style, Word Menu, Oxford English Dictionary, The Elements of Style, Chicago Tribune, Jim Crow, Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary, The New Oxford American Dictionary
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
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4.5 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable, November 29, 2005
By A reader (America) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Your Own Words (Hardcover)
For a serious writer or editor, this is an essential book. I keep it close by my dictionary, thesaurus, Chicago Manual, Garner, and Fowler's (the 2nd edition, of course, not the awful 3rd). Your Own Words is, as another reviewer aptly noted, a meta-reference, the one that allows me to find my way around the others and answer grammar and usage questions for myself. (I never, for instance, would have thought of using Google News as a usage guide.) The many selections from Wallraff's Atlantic Monthly column are a welcome bonus.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, decisive - and amusing, April 11, 2004
By R Gregg (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Your Own Words: The Bestselling Author of Word Court Explains How to Decipher Decipher the Dictionary, Master the Usage Manual, and Be Your Own Language Expert (Hardcover)
As a writer and speaker, I've often hesitated in choosing the right words and phrases, so as not to be misunderstood. And often turned to a favorite dictionary or reference book unquestioningly. What a surprise and shock to learn from Your Own Words how naive I've have been when I should have known more about the books I was using - and trusting. And how things like Google can do a better job of helping than some well-regarded language references and experts.

This is a fascinating, thoughtful, insightful and at times downright amusing look at the way we write, speak - and decide how to do both. As well as deciding which language reference books are worth having and using. Money well spent.

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A great little meta-reference book, May 1, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Your Own Words: The Bestselling Author of Word Court Explains How to Decipher Decipher the Dictionary, Master the Usage Manual, and Be Your Own Language Expert (Hardcover)
This gem of a book not only provides sound advice on language-related reference books (dictionaries, thesauri, usage and style guides, etc.) but it also answers many usage questions itself. And it's fun to read, being based on the popular Ms. Grammar columns in The Atlantic Monthly and syndicated in newspapers across the country. I got so enthused about language after I read this book that I went out and upgraded my language reference library. Now I'm ready for anything!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary little book
This is a book that everyone who cares about good language ought to own and read.

It is a deceptively plain-looking book, without chapters jam-packed with fascinating... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Daz

5.0 out of 5 stars My Own Words
This is a gem of a book. Insightful, thoughtful, witty, fun, and, above all, sensible. But most of all it exudes good plain commonsense about language. Read more
Published on March 16, 2006 by Samuel Jay Keyser

2.0 out of 5 stars Sorry, Idea Good, Writing Bad
I found the writing of this book quite bad. While reading the book I felt like suggesting that the author find a good editor to clean up the uneven, choppy, and repetitious... Read more
Published on October 9, 2005 by Judy Underwood

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid, informative, lively
I'm not sure how to characterize this book, as a reference, as a discourse on English and how it is evolving, as a guide to research tools in language and linguistics... Read more
Published on February 6, 2005 by C Kelly

5.0 out of 5 stars An important new resource
What a terrific addition to my reference shelf! Wallraff's book supplies not only the entertaining and helpful answers about language we've all learned to expect after years of... Read more
Published on June 7, 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful and clever
I was familiar with Barbara Wallraff's earlier book - and enjoyed it - but this one is far more helpful. Read more
Published on June 7, 2004 by wbgreen7

2.0 out of 5 stars Dull and elementary glimpses at Wallraff's erudition
Toward the end of her second chapter Wallraff actually apologizes in advance for how boring her upcoming discussion of online lexicographical resources is going to be. Read more
Published on June 7, 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Tour de force for writers
This gem of a book is the first I've ever come across to evaluate (and sometimes critically) the reference works writers and speakers rely on, to suggest better ways to use them... Read more
Published on April 29, 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable for writers - and teachers
As a high school teacher, I've enjoyed Ms. Wallraff's newspaper column - and wondered how she accumulated the resources to answer the language questions posed and with such grace,... Read more
Published on April 15, 2004 by enlightened teacher

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