“For a long time, many English speakers have felt that the language was going to the dogs. All around them, people were talking about ‘parameters’ and ‘life styles,’ saying ‘disinterested’ when they meant ‘uninterested,’ ‘fulsome’ when they meant ‘full.’ … To others, the complainers were fogies and snobs. The usages they objected to were cause not for grief but for celebration. They were pulsings of our linguistic lifeblood, proof that English was large, contained multitudes.”