Luke Armour not only gave us the new title for the originally but inadequately named segment of IPR, “PR Words to Banish,” but he also suggested we provide the language tips and travesties somewhere on the IPR blog page. Ask and ye shall receive. Just click the Inside PRoper English link above (just beneath the Inside PR banner) and the grammarian in you will find a separate page dedicated to the IPE segment of each show.
Now and in the future, Inside PRoper English will restore verbs to their original state as nouns, reunite prepositions with their breathren in the middle of sentences, rescue dangling participles, address abused and misued words, and even surgically rejoin split infinitives. What could be more exciting?
Years ago I stumbled across a great reference book by J.N. Hook, “The Appropriate Word: Finding the Best Way to Say What You Mean” (published by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.) It was on the sale table at the (late and lamented) Contact Books, then located at Yonge and Eglinton. I still keep it at the office and whenever there is a “discussion” about what is the appropriate word, I’m asked to pull it off the shelf. At least nine times out of 10 this book resolves the issue to everyone’s satisfaction.
My copy is more than 10 years old…but I noticed that The Appropriate Word is now available as an eBook!
http://www.ebookmall.com/ebook/164000-ebook.htm
Thanks Judy. I think we all have a couple of books we lean on to settle language disputes with colleagues. I’ve got Fowler’s Modern English Usage, and a fun little book called The Superior Person’s Book of Words by Peter Bowler. Hours of fun for grammar/vocabulary geeks. When all else fails, I called the final arbiter, my father…
Boy, do you guys know a good idea when you hear of it or what? Looks great. Fame and fortune will soon be yours for the taking.
Terry, Fowler’s Modern English Usage is a mainstay for me as well (dating back to my university days). The Appropriate Word serves as a fast resource, much like the Canadian Press Caps and Spelling is for quick checks, whereas its Stylebook is for more in-depth research.
Any book with “Superior Person’s” in its title piques my interest…I must look it up! (Thanks for sharing.)
I agree with Luke that this could prove to be a really valuable resource web page for PR and communication practitioners. I’ll throw a few more into the Inside PRoper Words ring.
New York Public Library Writer’s Guide to Style and Usage (www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062700642/103-2323906-0934257?v=glance&n=283155). I own the first edition, and I glommed onto it because the fine folks at EEI Communications (www.eeicommunications.com/) were involved with its research and compilation (although it doesn’t appear that is still the case). EEI Communications does continue to produce one of my all-time favourite newsletters, The Editorial Eye. It’s the perfect newsletter for the anal writer/editor/lover of words, particularly in its Infernal English column. (One article in the last year taught me tht the correct phrase is really “self-depreciating,” rather than “self-deprecating!”).
Finally: the Writing blog, housed over at John Gerstner’s Communitelligence portal: http://www.communitelligence.com/blps/blg.cfm?bid=65
(Disclosure: one of its contributors, Denise Baron, is a valued colleague and great pal…not that she lets me off the hook for any writing faux pas.)
How nice for you to have a language arbiter in the family. I rely on people like Denise, as well as my “grammar princess,” Elizabeth Lewis.
Looking forward to seeing this concept expand and enlarge.
Cheers,
Judy
Thanks Judy. You’ve provided a veritable cornucopia of delights for the etymologically inclined! I’ll be digging in…