"A linguistic exploration of the speech habits we love to hate-and why our "um"s, "like"s, and "you know"s actually make us better communicators. Do you hate that you say "like" too much? Do you go over your email drafts to remove excess "so"s and "really"s? Do you wish your presentation at work wasn't so full of "um"s and "uh"s? Do you get tripped up by slang, overly familiar greetings, or new pronouns? What if these features of our speech weren't...

Provides straightforward information about American-English word usages, spelling, grammar, and punctuation, in an up-to-date guide that provides etymologies for common terms and phrases, word lore, and discussions of why certain rules are disputed by usage authorities