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The Story Of Ain't LP: America, Its Language, And The Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published (2012)

by David Skinner(Favorite Author)

3.03 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0062201506 (ISBN13: 9780062201508)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

HarperLuxe

review 1: This is less the story of ain't than it is the story of how our view of what's slang and what should be included in a dictionary has changed over time.I enjoyed the story of the making of Webster's Third, but I thought it was confusingly arranged at times. There was a whole lot of back story about a guy named MacDonald, who it turns out was a critic who had nothing at all to do with the dictionary.Ain't as an entry is really only addressed in the final 30 pages or so. I did enjoy reading about how our use of certain words has changed over time. I just wish the book had been a little better focused.
review 2: I really wanted to love this book, but the prose style ultimately left me cold. I'm a serious logophile and enjoy the study of words, so this should have b... moreeen right in my wheelhouse, and I was left disappointed. The book spends too much time setting up the personalities and history involved (even including a lengthy "dramatis personae" at the end) and not enough time talking about the struggles involved in making and marketing this dictionary. less

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