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Rebel Without A Clause
The English language is changing constantly. We invent new words and phrases, we mash up idioms, we mispronounce, misuse, misappropriate. Sue Butler has heard it all and is ready to defend and disagree with common usage. Veering from tolerance to outrage, she examines how the word sheila took a nose-dive after World War II, considers whether we should hunker or bunker down, and bemoans the emptiness of rhetoric. She shouts 'down with closure' as it leaps from the psychoanalyst's couch, explains why we've lost the plot on deceptively, untangles the manuka honey stoush, fathoms why the treatment of famous is infamous, and ponders whether you would, could or should ...
Rebel without a Clause is a fascinatingly idiosyncratic romp through the world of words by lexicographer and former Macquarie Dictionary Editor, Sue Butler.
Rebel without a Clause is a fascinatingly idiosyncratic romp through the world of words by lexicographer and former Macquarie Dictionary Editor, Sue Butler.
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272 pages, Hardcover
First published September 29, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 23, 2020
Sue Butler is a lexicographer and some of you might remember my review of The Aitch Factor - Adventures in Australian English back in 2015. Much has changed since then. Sue Butler was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2018 and is better able to share her views on the English language now that she's no longer constrained by her position as Editor of the Macquarie Dictionary. The astute among you will also notice a name change from Susan to Sue.
Butler's observations are as keen as ever and early on in her new - and cleverly titled - book Rebel Without A Clause, she shares her hopes with the reader as follows:
"...however, I would hope that my swings from tolerant to outraged are measured and balanced. Otherwise I will have become that creature of strident language purity, the pedant." Page 4
Trust me, Sue Butler is in no danger of becoming a pedant, and in fact is far more tolerant than I am about many of the topics she explores.
There are a tonne of words and phrases that make me cringe and shiver, but I was surprised to read that Sue Butler is no longer bothered by the word 'agreeance'. Just typing it and seeing the red squigly line shouting 'this word is wrong' makes me clench my teeth. According to Butler, an agreement is a piece of paper whilst being in agreeance and reaching agreeance is a state of mind. Tell you what though, I'll never be in agreeance that this is a word. We should stick to agreement having two meanings, just as declaration does.
Butler quickly moves on to the shift from saying 'bored with' to 'bored of', possibly because we say we're 'tired of' something. When I hear someone saying 'bored of' it really rankles and I have no idea why. Funny isn't it?
Rebel Without A Clause is full of tidbits like this you'll want to discuss with others, so I don't recommend reading this when everyone else is asleep. Do you pronounce bruschetta as bru-shet-ta or brus-ket-ta? See what I mean?
On page 138, I learned that the plural of cactus isn't cacti. Butler makes the point that the word cactus was borrowed by the Romans from Greek, so the plural should really be cactapodes. But I can't see anyone changing, can you?
I loved the chapter on Inventing New Words, (like babelicious) and a new word I was thrilled to learn about was xenofiction.
"Xenofiction adds the prefix xeno- meaning 'foreign' to fiction to create a new genre of science fiction in which the alien or mystical beast is telling the story from their point of view." Page 145
How cool is that? I must keep an eye out for this word in the wild.
My only problem with this perfectly titled, beautiful little hardback book about words and language is the poor quality of the paper. The quality of the pages the text is printed on seems completely out of sync with the striking cover design, and there's quite a lot of bleed through of ink from page to page from the chapter headings. I did find myself wondering whether this was the result of COVID interrupting the usual book production process, but nevertheless, it was a slight let down. I can certainly imagine this will be a wonderful little stocking stuffer this Christmas.
Rebel Without A Clause by Sue Butler is full of surprising, amusing, entertaining and informative moments and I thoroughly enjoyed the short, sharp chapters on a variety of topics, words, phrases and linguistic tangles.
Highly recommended.
* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australia *
Butler's observations are as keen as ever and early on in her new - and cleverly titled - book Rebel Without A Clause, she shares her hopes with the reader as follows:
"...however, I would hope that my swings from tolerant to outraged are measured and balanced. Otherwise I will have become that creature of strident language purity, the pedant." Page 4
Trust me, Sue Butler is in no danger of becoming a pedant, and in fact is far more tolerant than I am about many of the topics she explores.
There are a tonne of words and phrases that make me cringe and shiver, but I was surprised to read that Sue Butler is no longer bothered by the word 'agreeance'. Just typing it and seeing the red squigly line shouting 'this word is wrong' makes me clench my teeth. According to Butler, an agreement is a piece of paper whilst being in agreeance and reaching agreeance is a state of mind. Tell you what though, I'll never be in agreeance that this is a word. We should stick to agreement having two meanings, just as declaration does.
Butler quickly moves on to the shift from saying 'bored with' to 'bored of', possibly because we say we're 'tired of' something. When I hear someone saying 'bored of' it really rankles and I have no idea why. Funny isn't it?
Rebel Without A Clause is full of tidbits like this you'll want to discuss with others, so I don't recommend reading this when everyone else is asleep. Do you pronounce bruschetta as bru-shet-ta or brus-ket-ta? See what I mean?
On page 138, I learned that the plural of cactus isn't cacti. Butler makes the point that the word cactus was borrowed by the Romans from Greek, so the plural should really be cactapodes. But I can't see anyone changing, can you?
I loved the chapter on Inventing New Words, (like babelicious) and a new word I was thrilled to learn about was xenofiction.
"Xenofiction adds the prefix xeno- meaning 'foreign' to fiction to create a new genre of science fiction in which the alien or mystical beast is telling the story from their point of view." Page 145
How cool is that? I must keep an eye out for this word in the wild.
My only problem with this perfectly titled, beautiful little hardback book about words and language is the poor quality of the paper. The quality of the pages the text is printed on seems completely out of sync with the striking cover design, and there's quite a lot of bleed through of ink from page to page from the chapter headings. I did find myself wondering whether this was the result of COVID interrupting the usual book production process, but nevertheless, it was a slight let down. I can certainly imagine this will be a wonderful little stocking stuffer this Christmas.
Rebel Without A Clause by Sue Butler is full of surprising, amusing, entertaining and informative moments and I thoroughly enjoyed the short, sharp chapters on a variety of topics, words, phrases and linguistic tangles.
Highly recommended.
* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australia *
October 6, 2020
It’s surprising how often conversations about language crop up around our dinner table. The kids love to tease me about the way I say ‘tacos’, my son enjoys irritating his siblings with his eccentric vocabulary, and their father’s has a penchant for using old ‘bush’ phrases which often require translation. As it happens, just last week my youngest daughter started a debate when she took one of her siblings to task for saying pronounciation instead of pronunciation, which should please Sue Butler.
Susan Butler, the former Editor of the Macquarie Dictionary, has some very particular ideas about language and how it ought and ought not be used. Rebel Without a Clause is a collection of her observations on, among other things, ‘the vagaries of English pronunciation, complicated by differences in varieties of English and personal idiosyncrasies and social taboos’.
‘To Care or Not To Care’ is the title of her first chapter in which she provides a brief explanation of how and why language changes, the need to balance preservation with the right of expression, and the importance of clarity and meaning.
In further pithy chapters, Susan goes on to discuss cliches, inventions, awkward spellings, mixed metaphors, and misconceptions. Her erudite commentary tempered by her wit, she explores questions like; Is Sheila now a derogatory term? What’s the difference between flaunt and flout? Should Covidiot have a place in the dictionary? Do you order brus-ketta or bru-shetta?
There’s a little overlap between Rebel Without a Clause and Butler’s The Aitch Factor (2014), but not a troubling amount. I’m heartened to see Sue still believes we can do without the apostrophe, and yet I’m in complete agreement with her dislike of stream-of-consciousness writing.
Rebel Without a Clause is a delightful exploration of the ever evolving wonder of words, and would make an ideal gift for language lovers, or pedantics, grammar Nazi's or wordsmiths.
Susan Butler, the former Editor of the Macquarie Dictionary, has some very particular ideas about language and how it ought and ought not be used. Rebel Without a Clause is a collection of her observations on, among other things, ‘the vagaries of English pronunciation, complicated by differences in varieties of English and personal idiosyncrasies and social taboos’.
‘To Care or Not To Care’ is the title of her first chapter in which she provides a brief explanation of how and why language changes, the need to balance preservation with the right of expression, and the importance of clarity and meaning.
In further pithy chapters, Susan goes on to discuss cliches, inventions, awkward spellings, mixed metaphors, and misconceptions. Her erudite commentary tempered by her wit, she explores questions like; Is Sheila now a derogatory term? What’s the difference between flaunt and flout? Should Covidiot have a place in the dictionary? Do you order brus-ketta or bru-shetta?
There’s a little overlap between Rebel Without a Clause and Butler’s The Aitch Factor (2014), but not a troubling amount. I’m heartened to see Sue still believes we can do without the apostrophe, and yet I’m in complete agreement with her dislike of stream-of-consciousness writing.
Rebel Without a Clause is a delightful exploration of the ever evolving wonder of words, and would make an ideal gift for language lovers, or pedantics, grammar Nazi's or wordsmiths.
February 28, 2021
Each small chapter was an adventure in itself. Gave me lot to think about, including the chapter accident or crash.
October 4, 2020
Trite, banal. One woman's random opinions on aspects of (Australian and general) English usage, presented with no more depth than you would expect of a mediocre coffee-break chat. Hard to believe, and concerning to learn, that she was in charge of the production of the Maquarie Dictionary and yet has so little of interest to say about words. She doesn't even say it well - her syntax is often clumsy and she misuses basic words (e.g. describing the 'game' of parsing sentences as 'very satisfactory' when she clearly means 'satisfying').
Skip it.
Skip it.
August 31, 2021
As a keen reader and crossword solver, I have always loved words, but had taken dictionaries for granted - they were just always there. Now however, I can appreciate the time and effort put into their composition. I am amazed at just how many years linguists and compilers study the origins, evolvement and adaptions before accepting words into a dictionary.
The English language is changing constantly. We invent new words and phrases, we mash up idioms, we mispronounce, misuse, misappropriate. Sue Butler has heard it all and is ready to defend and disagree with common usage. Veering from tolerance to outrage, she examines how the word sheila took a nose-dive after World War II, considers whether we should hunker or bunker down, and bemoans the emptiness of rhetoric. She shouts 'down with closure' as it leaps from the psychoanalyst's couch, explains why we've lost the plot on deceptively, untangles the manuka honey stoush, fathoms why the treatment of famous is infamous, and ponders whether you would, could or should ...
Rebel without a Clause is a fascinatingly idiosyncratic romp through the world of words by lexicographer and former Macquarie Dictionary Editor, Sue Butler
The English language is changing constantly. We invent new words and phrases, we mash up idioms, we mispronounce, misuse, misappropriate. Sue Butler has heard it all and is ready to defend and disagree with common usage. Veering from tolerance to outrage, she examines how the word sheila took a nose-dive after World War II, considers whether we should hunker or bunker down, and bemoans the emptiness of rhetoric. She shouts 'down with closure' as it leaps from the psychoanalyst's couch, explains why we've lost the plot on deceptively, untangles the manuka honey stoush, fathoms why the treatment of famous is infamous, and ponders whether you would, could or should ...
Rebel without a Clause is a fascinatingly idiosyncratic romp through the world of words by lexicographer and former Macquarie Dictionary Editor, Sue Butler
September 16, 2022
A charming, amusing book about grammar - specifically the author’s experience setting up a “Grammar Table” in public places to offer advice. She and her husband traveled to 30+ states pre-COVID to answer pressing grammar questions with humor and grace. The audiobook, read by the author, is easy to follow as she spells out “it’s” and “its” with punctuation, laid and lay, etc. While there’s nothing really new here, grammar usage and acceptance continues to evolve and the author grants permission for us to change as well.
December 21, 2020
Anyone who knows me will understand that I couldn't let a book with that title pass me by. I am a great fan of the elegant writing of Ms Butler and this collection of short pieces about clarity in writing did not disappoint, as she practices what she preaches. To care or not to care? I care.
October 24, 2020
Haiku Review:
A good idea
For a book, but the thinking
Ought to go deeper.
A good idea
For a book, but the thinking
Ought to go deeper.
April 29, 2023
Very entertaining and informative.
June 24, 2023
If you are a grammar nazi, you might not like it. If you are a grammarian who understands that language is for communication and expression and that it, and grammar, evolve, you will love this book. I thought it was really fun and funny.
February 6, 2021
A fun journey through language. Bite size and illuminating.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews