author, 'Bad English'
Consulting editor of American dictionaries at Oxford University Press and author of Bad English
PROFILE
Ammon Shea
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FROM Ammon Shea
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
'Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation' There are two kinds of people in the world: those who correct other people’s grammar, and those who think that those people are jerks. Ammon Shea’s new book, Bad English, looks at what are commonly considered mistakes in our language and explores how people first started speaking this way. Often the historical context puts these vilified turns of phrase in a completely new light.
Recommended
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Gov. Jerry Brown: California and China will fight climate change together President Donald Trump reportedly wants the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, and he’s expected to announce a decision soon. California Governor Jerry Brown heads to China to strengthen climate and clean energy ties.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Accusations of lying fly between James Comey and White House During his testimony Thursday, former FBI Director James Comey accused President Trump and other White House officials of lying when they said the FBI was in disarray and its staff had lost confidence in him. President Trump’s lawyer said Comey was wrong -- that the president never asked for his loyalty, and never asked him to back off the investigation into former NSA director Michael Flynn.
Bookworm
George Saunders: Lincoln in the Bardo (Part I) Lincoln in the Bardo dramatizes a grieving President Lincoln as he visits the grave of his beloved son Willie, who died at age eleven. In the novel, the buried dead believe they're not dead -- "they're sick and refer to their coffins as "sick boxes."