Just Ask Mister Wordwizard

Jennifer Henderson

David Grambs, a skilled wordsmith with seven other language books on the shelf, draws the reader into his "own barking kennel of loud pet peeves" by discussing topics that range from slang and simplified spelling to sugarcoated terms in cereal advertisements and cinema superlatives. Under the heading of movie puffcorn, he provides a 450-word movie rave key: a four-column list designed to equip anyone as a reviewer of films playing at the local multiplex. He encourages the use of Latin phrases in daily speech for syllable economy, and for flavor offers some "French fr}e}Es," French words such as "soign}e}E" and "d}e}Egag"}e}E that when sprinkled in correctly are sure to impress others. Each of the 40 chapters in this collection begins with an unusual word of the week, defined succinctly, and a fitting quotation. The chapters are further unified by being deliberately salted with one misspelled word, which is revealed at the end of the following chapter. By offering generous examples, Grambs tries to help the reader make distinctions between passable and proper English.