Jack Lynch, Author of The Lexicographer's Dilemma - 22 Jan. 2010

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🗓️ 22 January 2010

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

You know that grammatical 'rule' about not ending a sentence with a preposition? Well, who ever decided finishing off a sentence like that is a bad thing? (Personally, we think it's one of the silliest things anyone ever came up with.) In his new book, The Lexicographer's Dilemma The Evolution of 'Proper' English, from Shakespeare to South Park, literary historian Jack Lynch offers a lively narrative about the evolution of such rules, starting in the 17th century, when grammar books were more like self-help guides for the upwardly mobile. He introduces us to the flesh-and-blood (and almost always quirky) grammarians and dictionary editors who created and popularized traditional rules that people still argue about today. Recently Lynch talked with Martha about why and how some of those rules came to be. http://www.amazon.com/Lexicographers-Dilemma-Evolution-English-Shakespeare/dp/0802717004/ref=pd_rhf_shvl_1 Incidentally, Lynch, an associate professor of English at Rutgers University, has published his own helpful guide to grammar and usage online. http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/ -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: [email protected] Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org. Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Spark your creativity with the Sims. Sometimes you might feel like you're not creative
0:06.7	and you have to go in search of your creative spark again. Maybe this is catching up with
0:11.3	creative friends, experimenting with a new look or trying out a new recipe.
0:15.7	And thanks to The Sims, inspiration is just one game and one spark away.
0:21.1	Ready to spark something? Download the Sims 4 and play for free. Welcome to another mini-cast from Away with Words. I'm Martha Barnett.
0:37.0	The English language has existed in one form or another for about 1500 years,
0:42.0	and it's only been in the last 300 years or so
0:45.0	that anyone believe that people ought to be schooled
0:48.0	in a language they already use every day.
0:50.0	So just who were those 18th century grammarians who made up all those rules and how did they
0:56.1	decide what's good and bad English?
0:59.4	In his new book, Jack Lynch answers some of those questions.
1:03.0	His book is called The Lexicographer's Delema,
1:06.0	The Evolution of Proper English
1:08.0	from Shakespeare to South Park.
1:10.0	Jack Lynch is a professor of English
1:12.0	at Rutgers University and an authority on the lexicographer Samuel Johnson.
1:15.7	Jack, welcome to a way with words.
1:17.5	Well, thanks very much for having me.
1:19.4	Jack, you write that in the early 18th century some people were ringing their hands over the
1:23.8	idea that language was God forbid changing and that they were fretting that
1:28.5	something had to be done what were they so worried about? Well people have realized that language changes for a long, long time.
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