Geoffrey Nunberg

Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on the popularity of grammarian Lynne Truss's book Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg looks at the new film Spellbound and the history of the spelling bee.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg reviews the new edition of the venerable grammer book "The Elements of Style."

Linguist Geoff Nunberg comments on Simon Winchester's new book "The Professor and the Madman." It details the true story of the American psychopath who played a major role in compiling the Oxford English Dictionary in the mid 1800s.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg comments on a new CD of Elvis ballads sung in Latin by a Finnish singer.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg reviews "Fifty Years Among the New Words," a new collection of columns from the journal "American Speech."

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg reviews "Cultural Misunderstandings: The French-American Experience" by Raymonde Carroll. It's a look at the different ways different cultures behave and think.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg reviews a new book called "Doublespeak" by William Lutz, chairman of the Committee on Public Doublespeak of the National Council of Teachers of English. Lutz has been keeping files with examples of doublespeak used in politics and advertising and has compiled some of them in his book.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg looks at the influence of the word on the visual arts...starting with the Dada movement and the montage works of the 30s, up to current poster and electric sign work by Jenny Holzer.

Language commentator Geoff Nunberg reviews a new book by James Crawford which examines the history of bilingual education. Despite the contemporary controversy surrounding the issue, Nunberg and Crawford point out that such curricula was once considered a valuable way of helping immigrant children learn English and assimilate into American culture -- a view once shared by conservatives in the 1970s.