Mind the Gaffe!: A Troubleshooter's Guide to English Style and Usage

A linguist with attitude, R. L. Trask was a steadfast soldier in the never-ending War of Words, fighting the good fight for standard written English. Revered for its insight and legendary for its cheek, Trask's Mind the Gaffe is an indispensable guidebook for wordsmiths and language mavens of every stripe, providing safe passage through the ubiquitous minefields of improper usage.

• Artiste: This pretentious word . . . commonly means fraud pretending to be an artist. Don't use it unless you mean to be insulting.

• Amoral, Immoral: An amoral person is one who does not know the difference between right and wrong. An immoral person knows the difference but does wrong anyway.

• Reaction: A reaction is a sudden and spontaneous response to a stimulus, such as jumping, shrieking, or fainting. The word is not properly used as a fancy word for any kind of considered response. If you circulate a policy document, you can ask others for their opinions, or for their criticisms, but do not ask them for their reactions unless you hope to hear responses like I burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Author: R. L. Trask
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 11/21/2006
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.53lbs
Size: 7.96h x 5.38w x 0.78d
ISBN: 9780061132209

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 10/15/2006 pg. 12
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2007 pg. 268

About the Author
Trask, R. L.: -

One of the most celebrated linguists of his time, R. L. Trask was a brilliant lecturer and the author of many popular works, including The Penguin Guide to Punctuation and The Penguin Dictionary of English Grammar. Born in New York State in 1944, he lived in England after 1970, and was Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sussex until his death in 2004.