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  • The Story of Ain't: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published by David Skinner book cover
  • The Story of Ain't: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published by David Skinner book cover
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The Story of Ain't: America, Its Language, and the Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published

by David Skinner

A dictionary at the center of a language debate

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A dictionary at the center of a language debate

David Skinner’s account traces the making of Merriam-Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, published in 1961, and the controversy that followed. The dictionary’s reception opens onto a broader dispute about what reference books should do: uphold established standards of “correct” usage or document the language people actually use. By connecting that divide to the personalities involved and to shifts in mid-century American culture, the book places dictionary-making within a wider history of changing attitudes toward English in the United States.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • For readers interested in dictionaries, lexicography, and the history of English.
  • For those curious about debates over language rules and everyday usage.
  • For readers exploring mid-century American cultural history.

Themes

Lexicography and dictionary-makingPrescriptivism and descriptivismLanguage change and usage debatesMid-century American cultural history

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Book overview

"It takes true brilliance to lift the arid tellings of lexicographic fussing into the readable realm of the thriller and the bodice-ripper....David Skinner has done precisely this, taking a fine story and honing it to popular perfection."


--Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman

The Story of Ain't by David Skinner is the captivating true chronicle of the creation of Merriam Webster's Third New International Dictionary in 1961, the most controversial dictionary ever published. Skinner's surprising and engaging, erudite and witty account will enthrall fans of Winchester's The Professor and the Madman and The Meaning of Everything, and The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs, as it explores a culture in transition and the brilliant, colorful individuals behind it. The Story of Ain't is a smart, often outrageous, and altogether remarkable tale of how egos, infighting, and controversy shaped one of America's most authoritative language texts, sparking a furious language debate that the late, great author David Foster Wallace (Infinite Jest) once called "the Fort Sumter of the Usage Wars."

 

  • A Gripping Language Controversy: Discover why the 1961 publication of Merriam-Webster's Third was called a 'calamity' and sparked a national debate over the very soul of the English language.
  • The History of the English Language: Go behind the scenes of dictionary making to meet the brilliant, colorful, and warring personalities who fought to define how Americans speak.
  • Prescriptivism vs. Descriptivism: Explore the central battle between traditionalists who believe a dictionary should prescribe correct usage and the modern linguists who argue it must only describe the language as it's actually used.
  • American Cultural History: A compelling slice of mid-century American history, this chronicle reveals how cultural shifts, world wars, and changing social norms fueled the 'Usage Wars.'
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