Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite

June Casagrande is my personal deity. You should know that before you read the rest of this review (or while deciding whether or not to do so).

She's funny, she's smart, and she knows when to take grammar seriously and when to tell it to get over itself, already.

I could quote this book like mad -- and, let's face it, I have and will continue to do so. But really, there are only two things you need to know about it.

The first is that Casagrande doesn't mind saying that there are plenty of times when our language hasn't decided what the rules are.

For instance, which of the following is correct: "I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me," or "I appreciate your taking the time to meet with me?"

When should you use "each other," and show more when should you employ "one another" instead?

Is it correct to say "It is I she loves," or "It is me she loves"?

Here's Casagrande's answer, and boy howdy does she back it up with research:

The answer to all these questions and more: Nobody knows.

When I say nobody knows, I don't mean that the experts bicker over the right way to do these things. These are not cases in which they simply disagree. These are cases in which they truly don't have a clue. If they tell you otherwise, they're bluffing. They would like us to believe that they hold such mystical wisdom, but the truth is they're as clueless as the rest of us.

Which basically sums up the difference between a grammar nerd, who finds this answer fascinating and a little reassuring, and a grammar snob, who enjoys hitting other people over the head with the force of her rightness and does NOT relish the idea of having to live and let live when it comes to language usage.

The second thing you need to know about this book is that it's called Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies. This title will either give you a giggle or make your face pucker up like you just bit a lemon.

If it's the first, buy this book, because the whole thing is written in exactly this tone. It's ridiculously informative, and you'll enjoy every minute of learning how our language actually works.

If you made the lemon face, buy this book and read it because I want to watch you cry.

Either way, long live June Casagrande.

And now if you'll excuse me, I have some incense to light. That altar I have set up in the corner is getting chilly. show less

This is the only grammar book I've read that has made me do a spit-take. (I probably would have done more but I commenced a plan of not drinking and reading following the incident.) It's humor is relaxing and the grammar tips are useful and understandable. My only caveat is that the humor is aimed toward an older, less-easily-offended audience.

Apart from being entirely useful, June Casagrande's Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies is nothing less than a hoot! She has a style of seemingly off-the-cuff writing that makes an otherwise tedious subject quite easily digestible.

Grammar- and East Coast-snob than I am, I would never have imagined that a Southern California girl could pull this off. But she does -- and masterfully (or mistressfully) so!

For those of you who write for a living or for others who simply want to brush up on some of the stickier (and pricklier) points of the English language, I can't encourage you enough to pick up a copy of Ms. Casagrande's book, read it, then give it a well-deserved berth on your bookshelf right next to Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English show more and Lynn Truss's Eats(,) Shoots & Leaves. I can assure you: the three will make excellent stable-mates!

RRB
07/26/13
Brooklyn, NY, USA show less

This was an audiobook with excellent narration by the author. Although text might be the preferable format for this topic, it was easy to follow. Casagrande is entertaining in this humorous and light-hearted grammar lesson. The good news: grammar rules are not nearly as scary as you think. It was not only worthwhile, but an enjoyable book.

Casagrande employs some clever puns and jokes to castigate grammar "snobs" and demonstrate why and how using correct grammar is not so difficult (and sometimes, not so important). Unfortunately, she reminds me of someone who has been drinking too much: too often she overuses an idea or theme that she finds humorous (but nobody else does, at least not after the first time it is used). In the end, she hasn't really said much at all. She does finally get down to business in [only] one chapter - her penultimate - in which, purporting to present an excerpt from "Satan's Dictionary", she delineates "words designed to torment and confuse...." But the torment is all hers, since she insists on repeatedly adding in italics, "I am Satan!" after show more way too many of the otherwise welcome short entries. The chapter comprises, for me, a microcosm of the whole book: the same gag is beat to death until the reader is more irritated than amused. My recommendation? Read the pun-y chapter titles and skip the book. (JAF)

(JAB Review): It's actually better than my wife asseverates. She read the book in too few sittings. This genre, if it is to be enjoyed at all, must be sipped, not gulped. Then you don't realize how repetitive it is.

The penultimate chapter is more extensive and up-to-date than the analogous chapter in Strunk and White. In addition, the author points out several issues where The Chicago Manual of Style (my Bible, but only because of institutional loyalty) differs from the Associated Press Stylebook, or where, as we U. of Chicago alums say, the Associated Press is illiterate.

Cassagrande can be a little trying, but give her credit for coming up with the ultimate generic title for most grammar and usage books, "The Author of This Book Is Your Superior in Every Way and You're Not Smart Enough to Know He's Talking Down to You"--I know titles are supposed to be italicized, but LibraryThing doesn't accommodate italics. Replace the words "Author of This Book" with "Holder of This Diploma," and you have decoded the unwritten content of every framed and mounted diploma you see in the offices of physicians, lawyers, and beauticians. (JAB) show less

I picked this book up after a discussion with a friend over the word "unique." Is unique absolute or are there degrees of uniqueness that require modifiers? "so unique" "not as unique" "very unique" etc....

The question on my mind was "am I grammar snob?" After reading this I would say no. It is clear that I have several language pet peeves, but I am not the stickler or "jerkwad" the language elites are. Even if you do follow all the rules it isn't necessary to be constantly correcting everyone unless you are their editor.

A light and funny read that still mangages to cover all the grammar rules in an understandable way and also urges you to forget them all. I already have.

I'm a sucker for language guides. I thought that the title was tongue-in-cheek and that this would be directed at grammar snobs like me. It wasn't. But it was still both entertaining and useful; what more could one ask?