Puttin' on the Style: On writing, and on English style
I stuck with it and found some gems but it comes across as a nasty case of naval gazing (similar to the navel version but you have to spit out the bits of rope stuck in your teeth, or choke)<p>The initial paras are quite fun parodies and explained soon after.<p>&quot;English, unlike French, has no academy to protect its virtue&quot;: thank goodness - English has no virtue and no morals.  It takes what it needs and returns the favour in flexibility.  However, English spoken by a French person does sound rather lovely.<p>&quot;guerrilla outfits of Berks and Wankers&quot; - I&#x27;ve never read Amis but it seems I might have to:<p>&quot;Berks ... Left to them the English language would die of impurity, like late Latin.&quot;<p>&quot;Wankers ... Left to them the language would die of purity, like medieval Latin.&quot;<p>I too was educated at a posh prep. school (but in Devon, UK) and a posh public school in Oxon (public schools in the UK are private schools - we are a bit odd).  I too was taught &quot;correct&quot; use of the language, except that I was taught en_GB rather than en_US.  I still have my copy of &quot;Use and abuse of the English language&quot; somewhere.  I should probably recycle its materials.<p>English does not require an Academy of Immortals to look after it.  There are a few good reasons why it is a good first and second choice for a Frankish Language, one of which is that you <i>can</i> use and abuse it and still be understood.