WEEDS IN THE GARDEN OF WORDS: FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE TANGLED HISTORY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

the long version

"If the English language is a glorious garden, filled with exotic hybrids and the continuing tradition of heritage specimens, then it is no surprise that we will also find some weeds. Linguistic weeds may have pronunciations we don't want or constructions that are out of place. We may be trying to hold on to words and usage we should perhaps have said farewell to. But as all gardeners know, what one gardener calls a 'weed', another may call a 'flower'. The some goes for words and their usage in English - sometimes we just haven't realized their virtues."--BOOK JACKET.