I’ve noticed that linguists show a mixture of amusement and annoyance toward grammarians. I think I understand why these two species don’t mix well even though they would seem to be natural allies: linguists see incredible richness, nuance and fluidity in language. Grammarians, on the other hand, see monochromatic rules and sacrosanct strictures.
In a certain sense, grammarians are profoundly uninterested in language, even though they may revere it. For them, English is this fixed and already perfected thing, an inheritance that we must preserve and protect from adulteration; there are rules, and they are to be memorized and followed, not analyzed, questioned or amended. Of course, grammarians are wrong a lot, and can be thuggish and stupidly melodramatic in their piety (imho).
All that said, On Writing Well is an awesome book, and Zinsser’s tone is, on the whole, much warmer and more temperate than you might think given the examples cited in Joseph Williams’ essay ‘The Phenomenology of Error’ (pictured above). Whereas Strunk and White made me afraid to type a sentence, Zinsser actually inspired me to write. Williams’ point still stands, however. Grammarians can be total dicks.
Joseph M. William: The Phenomenology of Error via Lingua Franca
Update: Geoff Nunberg offers an excellent primer on “the politics of ‘prescriptivism'”