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    The Lexicographer's Dilemma: The Evolution of "Proper" English, from Shakespeare to South Park (Paperback) By (author) Jack Lynch

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    Short Description for The Lexicographer's DilemmaWhat does proper English mean, and who gets to say what's right? Lynch has discovered every rule of English usage has a human history, and makes sense only in a historical context. They're more like rules of etiquette, made by fallible people and subject to change.
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  • In its long history, the English language has had many lawmakers--those who have tried to regulate or otherwise organize the way we speak. "The Lexicographer's Dilemma" poses a pair of questions--what does proper English mean, and who gets to say what's right? Our ideas of correct or proper English have a history, and today's debates over the state of the language--whether about Ebonics in schools, the unique use of language in a South Park episode, or split infinitives in the "Times"--make sense only in historical context. As historian Jack Lynch has discovered, every rule has a human history, and the characters who populate his narrative are as interesting for their obsessions as for their erudition. Charting the evolution of English with wit and intelligence, he provides a rich historical perspective that makes us appreciate a new the hard-won standards we now enjoy.