'McWhorter relishes the world of pidgins, Creoles, dialects and slang... His enthusiasm is infectious'

'A frisky observer of the linguistic scene'

'The breathless tour of linguistic oddities from around the globe has its own empirical delight... McWhorter is a kind of linguistic David Attenborough... The fascination is in his detail, the sheer case-by-case weirdness of languages'

[A] rollicking memoir.

Unusual… Moving… Magnificent.

A new fascinating exploration of the words that Americans and Brits both use and how they can have different meanings altogether… Moore is a very engaging writer… an excellent springboard for more research into the history of our magnificent and maddening language.

The ocean that divides England and America is awash with linguistic wreckage and cultural tumult. But Erin Moore’s study of these infested waters is serene, assured and hugely entertaining. They should hand her book out at border control.

One thing that makes Gowers such an engaging figure is that he isn't prissy, priggish or prim. As far as he is concerned, language is a living thing that is constantly changing - and this is just as it should be

Still the best book on English and how to write it ... Unhappy with versions rewritten by others, Rebecca Gowers, Sir Ernest's great-granddaughter, has produced a new edition ... The result is splendid ... Gowers wrote with wit, humanity and common sense ... [his] central advice should be taped to the screen of anyone sitting down at a computer keyboard

The book has been modernized but preserves all its original charm ... There is arguably a greater need for its circulation among the general public [than ever before]

The zeal with which Sir Ernest uncovers error is matched only by the wit with which he chastises it

I am glad that attention should be continually drawn to copies of this book ... I am in full sympathy with the doctrine laid down by Sir Ernest Gowers

A delight, a classic of its kind

Great fun to read

Brilliant

A sweetly reasonable and wholly admirable guide

It will delight far wider circles than those to whom it is primarily addressed

Personal and affectionate tribute

Affectionate, familial tribute to this many-sided man.