Bryan A. Garner

Editor in chief, Black's Law Dictionary; author, Garner's Modern English Usage. Fall in love with language & it will love you back.

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

Just wondering why I’d keep a 1930 almanac. But inside I rediscovered the book stamp of Judge Jerome Frank of the Second Circuit.

That’s why.

#books #secondcircuit ⁦⁦@uscourts⁩ ⁦@USCourtsCA10⁩ ⁦@2ndcircuitblog⁩ #appellatetwitter @2ndcircuit #ca2

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

@RJBrady71 That’s Justice Wiley Rutledge, for whom Stevens clerked.

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

One of my favorite photos of the late Justice Stevens shows his dictionary stand. The second edition of my usage book (red dustjacket) is lying horizontal atop the other dictionaries. He was a kind man—and a wise one.
#dictionaries #books

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

@HenryWFowler Thx!

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

Good morning. A couple of favorite shelves—oversized books. #books #bookshelves #bibliophily #bibliophilia

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

I’m not alone, am I, in finding signs like this to be demoralizing, dispiriting, and altogether pitiable?

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

@Dem_Bitz I use ResearchMate to catalogue the books.

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

I should have said this photo is of five shelves in the guest bedroom in Karolyne’s and my house—the one where Justice Scalia always stayed. We sometimes call it the Scalia Guest Bedroom. I think it’s important to have interesting books for guests. #books #bookshelves

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

@KDSzczepanski No. Want to Re a shelf in that room?

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

I like a guest bedroom to have a good selection of reading materials. This is one of 43 shelves of books in one of our guest bedrooms. #books #bibliophiles

[James Rosen @JamesRosenTV]

What an incredible honor, and mind-blowing surprise, that :::MAUREEN SCALIA::: attended my talk @Heritage @MeeseCenter today on SCALIA: RISE TO GREATNESS. Deep thanks to @malcolm_john for hosting me and arranging lunch with a true American hero, deserving of her own biography.

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

Many people think that Noah Webster’s 1806 Compendious Dictionary was the first dictionary published in the U.S. But this one was earlier. Note that the coauthor, Samuel Johnson Jr., had no relation to the famous London literary figure. ⁦@drjohnsonshouse⁩

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

You can pretty easily tell which of these four copies of Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language is in the original boards. #books

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

@artmarkham @WSJ I prefer the third (most traditional--not awful!) or the first.

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

The ⁦@WSJ⁩ front-page news capsules are poorly worded today. Note the awkwardness of these two. The first has a cliché plus inelegant variation; the second has a miscue caused partly by using “payments” (as opposed to “payment”) adjectivally. I usually admire this section.

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

Congratulations, Steve!

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

@Shoboiboy And no hyphenated word breaks!

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

Can you see any way that this word choice is something other than a big blunder?

[Bryan A. Garner @BryanAGarner]

And if you have three sick dogs at home, do you have a “dogs problem”? No, it’s a dog problem.
Visa and Mastercard are likewise payment companies.

[Dennis Ambach @dennisambach]

@BryanAGarner @WSJ “Payments” is correct. Companies, governments and other organizations moving money electronically are engaging in payments activities. Ask anyone at Visa, MasterCard or the Federal Reserve…