Publisher's Synopsis
This is a collection of essays and reflections by Robert Burchfield, the editor of the Supplement to the First Edition of the "Oxford English Dictionary". Many of the pieces in this personal survey of the English language as it is used throughout the world come from his popular Sunday Times column, "Words and Meanings", and focus on such contentious issues as using "between you and me" or "between you and I", and the 29 meanings of the verb "to want". The book also includes an essay on the Fowler brothers and usage handbooks, and an outline history of euphemisms in English.
