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Summary and Reviews of Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies by June Casagrande

Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies by June Casagrande

Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies

A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite

by June Casagrande
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  • Mar 2006, 224 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

The antidote to Eats, Shoots and Leaves - an uproarious and very American language book for those who are tired of getting pulled over by the grammar police

What do suicidal pandas, doped-up rock stars, and a naked Pamela Anderson have in common? They’re all a heck of a lot more interesting than reading about predicate nominatives and hyphens. June Casagrande knows this and has invented a whole new twist on the grammar book. Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies is a laugh-out-loud funny collection of anecdotes and essays on grammar and punctuation, as well as hilarious critiques of the self-appointed language experts.

Chapters include:

  • I’m Writing This While Naked—The Oh-So Steamy Predicate Nominative.
  • Semicolonoscopy—Colons, Semicolons, Dashes, and Other Probing Annoyances.
  • I’ll Take "I Feel Like a Moron" for $200, Alex—When to Put Punctuation Inside Quotation Marks.
  • Snobbery Up with Which You Should Not Put Up—Prepositions.
  • Is That a Dangler in Your Memo or Are You Just Glad to See Me?
  • Hyphens—Life-Sucking, Mom-and-Apple-Pie-Hating, Mime-Loving, Nerd-Fight-Inciting Daggers of the Damned.


Casagrande delivers practical and fun language lessons not found anywhere else, demystifying the subject and taking it back from the snobs. In short, it’s a grammar book people will actually want to read—just for the fun of it.

Chapter 1
A Snob for All Seasons Shared Possessives

Grammar snobs come in two forms: amateur and pro. Amateur grammar snobs are a lot like amateur gynecologists— they're everywhere, they're all too eager to offer their services, and they're anything but gentle. They include the guy at the party who says, "From where did you get the recipe for this torte?" and the girl who likes to point out your dangler and laugh, and the old biddy who was beside herself with malicious glee the time I accidentally wrote "old bitty."

These people are scary enough, but what's worse is that there also exists a whole crop of cranks who actually make a living at being meanies.

Meet James Kilpatrick, syndicated columnist and grammar grouch extraordinaire. Kilpatrick is a guy who actually writes stuff like, "It is time, once again, for propounding a paean to the period. Heavenly dot! Divine orb! Precious pea of punctuation! ...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Children's Literature - Mindy Hardwick
This lively book with humorous essays is a sure winner with adults; however, it is questionable for the teen reader set. In order to make the essays more appealing to for teens, more teen-friendly examples and language are needed. Ages 18 up.

Publisher's Weekly
Readers intimidated by style manuals and Lynne Truss will enjoy this populist grammar reference.

Reader Reviews

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Read-Alikes

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  • Eats, Shoots and Leaves jacket

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    'Who would have thought a book about punctuation could cause such a sensation? Truss serves up a delightful, unabashedly strict and sometimes snobby little book, with cheery Britishisms dotting pages that express a more international righteous indignation.'

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