The good people at the Speculative Grammarian, the premier scholarly journal in field of satirical linguistics, sent me a review copy of their book, The Speculative Grammarian Essential Guide to Linguistics, and asked me if I could write a review. This is what they said:

“Of course, we think the book is quite funny, though you aren’t necessarily expected to agree. Much of our “Advance Praise” for the book is insulting, non-committal, or backhanded, so we aren’t particularly averse to such comments, especially if they are amusing. In fact, as a special offer to the most desirable reviewers, we’re willing to accept a mildly amusing (including insulting, non-committal, or backhanded) review without you having read any of the book.”

This is my, not entirely serious, review:

The Speculative Grammarian Essential Guide to Linguistics book contains 360 pages, some with writing on, some blank, so if you read one page a day it would take almost a year to get through. I don’t have that time to devote to the fine and neglected field of satirical linguistics, so I skimmed through it, reading bits here and there, and looking at the pictures. I even got some of the jokes.

The articles are a selection of the best ones from the Speculative Grammarian website brought together in one place for your convenience, with extra introductions, appendices and other bits. The articles cover all aspects of satirical linguistics from definitions of linguistics (inconclusive) to field linguistics (what to pack, etc), and also linguistic love poetry and a guide to mytholingual creatures. Some articles should be approached with extreme caution only by highly trained stunt linguists. You have been warned!