Says Who?: A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words

A kinder, funner usage guide to the ever-changing English language and a useful tool for both the grammar stickler and the more colloquial user of English—from linguist and veteran professor Anne Curzan

Our use of language naturally evolves. It is a living, breathing thing that is a reflection of us, so we shouldn’t let our language peeves raise our blood pressure too high. Says Who? offers clear, nuanced guidance that goes beyond “right” and “wrong” to empower us to make informed language choices. Never snooty, scoldy (yes, that’s a “real” word!), or boring, this book pulls back the curtain to reveal where the grammar rules we learned in school actually come from and to unmask the forces that drive dictionary editors to label certain words as slang or unacceptable.

Linguist and veteran English professor Anne Curzan gives readers just the guidance they need to adeptly manage (a split infinitive?! You betcha!) formal and informal writing and speaking. After all, we don’t want to be caught wearing our linguistic pajamas to a job interview any more than we want to show up for a backyard barbecue in a verbal tux, asking “To whom shall I pass the ketchup?” Curzan gently explains, without rancor or judgment, how to connect local guidance with a bigger map for how to think about usage questions. Filled with entertaining examples from literature, newspapers, television, and more, the book is lively, accessible, and both judicious and pragmatic in its advice. Curzan invites in usage novices and encourages language gatekeepers to open the gates wider, showing us how we can care about language precision, clarity, and inclusion all at the same time.

With humor and humanity, Says Who? reveals how our choices about language usage can be a powerful force for equity and personal expression. For proud grammar sticklers and self-conscious writers alike, Curzan makes nerding out about language fun.

About the Author

Anne Curzan is the Geneva Smitherman Collegiate Professor of English, Linguistics, and Education and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan, where she also currently serves as the dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

Author Residence: Ann Arbor, MI