Between You and I: A Little Book of Bad English [Hardcover]

Standards of spoken and written English are deteriorating throughout the land and it is not only those from disadvantaged backgrounds such as footballers, disc jockeys and tabloid journalists who are massacring our noble language. Broadsheet journalists, serious broadcasters, novelists, politicians and, most culpably of all, the educators themselves are all too frequently guilty of teeth-grating misuse of words and phrases under the misapprehension that they are speaking or writing ‘proper English’.

This handy guide is an heroic attempt to salvage some pearls of good usage from the linguistic dystopia of modern Britain. For the most part, the examples of bad English will come from people in the public eye who consider themselves educated and who ought to know better.

Between You and I should be the constant bedside companion of any person of sensibility who, against all odds, wants to save our language.

James Cochrane was born in Edinburgh in 1938 and educated there and at Cambridge University. He joined Penguin Books as an editor in 1961 and has worked in publishing ever since. His earlier books include Stipple, Wink and Gusset.