The Pedant's Revolt

I don't quite understand Geoff Bache's assertion that the author says that Puff the Magic Dragon isn't about drugs without any reason - surely quoting the author of the poem and the strong "denial of those associated with the song's origins" is enough for him? I therefore question his motives for denigrating this book.

For me, this was a fun book that debunks lots of regurgitated myths - if you want to carry on believing them then that's up to you!


mmmmm... OK...   February 23, 2006
 16 out of 24 found this review helpful

This book corrects many common assumptions and misapprehensions. It's interesting and it does a reasonable job, but perhaps what I liked most about it was that increased my general level of scepticism -- it does encourage one to take fewer things for granted, and I think that's great.
What's rather less great is that the author tries to round off many the articles with a little footnote that is all too often patronising or gratingly twee -- on the item about whether hair can turn white overnight, she finishes: "as for the reasons behind Sir Thomas More's hair whitening, imminent decapitation would be stressful enough to prompt anybody's hair to fall out!". Well, yes, presumably so.


An easy read, but some questionable information   February 8, 2006
 59 out of 73 found this review helpful

While I enjoyed reading this book, I found enough in it that I knew to be false or found to be unconvincing that I didn't dare rely on the rest of it. With the title it has, I expected rock-solid facts and rock-solid reasoning based on them, and often found neither. In other words, I could out-pedant the pedant without trying too hard.

To quote some examples, the author argues for a non-Scottish origin of haggis by trying to establish the etymology of the word. This by quoting a non-existent Swedish word and a non-existent Icelandic word to prove the Germanic origins. And then arguing that Germanic roots clearly establish it as having come from outside (presumably Gaelic roots are desired?) Ignoring the fact that Germanic speech has been present in Scotland since at least the sixth century and that Gaelic has never been the language of the whole country anyway...

Or take the argument that the 'Eskimos' do not really have lots of words for snow. This hits the problem of what is meant by 'Eskimo' (a word not used by the peoples themselves anyway). The author quotes someone writing about the Yupik of Alaska, ignoring the fact that most people's Eskimos are the Inuit, who according to anthropologist Hugh Brodie in his book "The Other Side of Eden" do indeed have a great msny words for snow.

And for a final example of poor argument, you can rest assured that "Puff the Magic Dragon" is not a veiled reference to drugs. The reason? The now-older-and-wiser author denies it...