A review by katiecoops
You Are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws, and the Politics of Identity by Robert Lane Greene

3.0

This is a departure from what I normally read - YA contemporary - but I do find language fascinating. I read Steven Pinker's The Stuff of Thought for fun in college, along with various other language and grammar books required in my courses, includig Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots, and Leaves which is mentioned several times in this book. I thought there was little too much history and I'll admit to skimming about 10 pages of middle eastern history. I would definitely consider myself more of a prescriptivist than a descriptivist and I am guilty of enforcing some of the more dubious "rules" denounced in You Are What You Speak. This book changed my mind on several issues and helped me see that it's almost impossible to have a perfectly correct language since it's constantly changing. There are some things I'll always stick to, but this book showed me that it's really quite pointless and even wrong to be such a grammar stickler about rules and usages that are changing and evolving. One thing I found interesting was the changing definition of "nonplussed", which I always took to mean as confused or bewildered. I know the meaning is shifting to mean not bothered, but it's confusing when it's written in a book. I remember reading a novel that used nonplussed to describe someone's reaction but I couldn't tell from the context which definition the author was using. I understand change, but at some point clarity is lost in the shift. I enjoyed reading this, I just wish it had a little less world history and a little more English usage information.