Unfashionable Style

I'm well aware that style manuals are not everyone's idea of riveting reading. (Though I submit that the world would be a better place if they were.) They're far likelier to be dry than wry.

A noteworthy exception is that of The Economist -- at least the section on solecisms. Crisply British, it makes its points clearly, sometimes even wittily.

This won't surprise anyone who's read Lynne Truss's brilliant Eats Shoots and Leaves. That book was an unexpected best seller, so maybe there's hope. But I'm not holding my breath.