This irreverent and often hilarious book, designed for the nonspecialist. It examines the modern American usage and its many celebrity commentators- Edwin Newman, John Simon, William Safire, et al. He demonstartes that authoritarian pronouncements- the sacred rules of writing and speaking English regularly hurled at us from countless books, teachers, and magazine columns- are based more often on foolishness, ignorance, and superstition than on past or current usage. ( Taken from inside cover)