Says Who?: A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words by Anne Curzan, PhD

Says Who?

Subtitle: A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words

Author: Anne Curzan

Genre: Nonfiction, Language

Publish Date: March 2024

Read: June 2025

Favorite Quote: And here we need to remember the lesson of the fishwife: that stigmas become attached to words that are often used by historically marginalized speakers, including in this case many speakers of African-American English and southern varieties of American English. This is part of why debates about words are so important: They are almost never just about words—they are about people and prejudice, about social and political issues, and about power.

Synopsis: In Says Who?, Anne Curzan dissects language (and punctuation a bit) to help the modern reader understand the rules we grew up with and how to navigate a quickly evolving linguistic world. If you were taught to never split an infinitive or you don’t understand exactly why the grammar checker keeps underlining a phrase even though it sounds right to you, you’ll love this book!

Why does this book beguile? Anne Curzan uses her linguistic knowledge and power for good in Says Who?. As someone who loves words, yet frequently laments “words are hard,” this book helped alleviate some anxiety about the rigorous language learned as a little one. I appreciated the inclusivity used and the facts peppered throughout about the history of contentious words and/or the usage of them. This is a MUST-READ for any word nerd, wordie, or grammando out there.

Dad - I’m talking directly to you. :)

Bookshop.Org Link*: Says Who?: A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words by Anne Curzan, PhD

Amazon.com Link* Says Who?: A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words by Anne Curzan, PhD

If you’re interested in this, read*: Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss - Bookshop.Org / Amazon.com