Bad Language

...written for a non-scholarly audience, although it might be useful as a pre-course book for undergraduates... Books on this subject tend to adopt polarized positions, and while it is clear which end of the spectrum Battistella occupies, he writes in a style that would not automatically alienate those who initially disagreed with him.

• PrefaceBad Language: Realism versus RelativismAnything GoesA Culture of EngagementBad WritingThe Craft of WritingClear and DirectThe Relativity of StyleWhat is Good Writing?Bad GrammarPrescriptive GrammarThe Emergence of PrescriptivismThe Doctrines of Usage and UtilityThe English Language Arts and BeyondConservatives and ProgressivesThe Necessity for GrammarBad WordsCursing in the Media and the ArtsOffensive LanguageBad Words as a Social ConstructionSlang as Bad LanguagePolitical CorrectnessConventionalism and Comfort LevelsBad CitizensBirth of a NationNative American LanguagesManualism versus OralismRestrictions on Foreign LanguagesBilingual EducationEnglish OnlyOne Flag, One LanguageBad AccentsBroken EnglishAttitudes Toward Regional DialectsEbonicsAccomodating to the Idealized MainstreamImages and EngagementImagining LanguageEnglish Made HardBeyond Simplistic CharacterizationsNotesReferenceIndex