Humor

Mencken uses his trademark wry sense of humor to make his linguistic treatise entertaining. Prior to completing this book, Mencken had poked fun at American scholars, but with this book, he found himself among them. Still, he applied the same writing style to his scholarly work that he had used in so many other forums. The result is a meticulously detailed book that is accessible and enjoyable to the general public. What could be very bland reading comes to life in Mencken's editorial comments. In chapter one, Mencken observes, "In every age, of course, there have been pedantic fellows who outschoolmarm the schoolmarms in their devotion to grammatical, syntactical, and lexicographical niceties." In chapter five, he writes, "Outstanding began its career among the pedagogues, and they still overwork it cruelly, but it is now also used by politicians, the . . . clergy, newspaper editorial writers, and other such virtuosi of...