As a content marketer, I love reading books on the evolution of language and words we use every day. This book is like the millennial's version of Eats, Shoot & Leaves. The author is humourous, quick-witted and honest.

I loved the description of her first day at Buzzfeed HQ, I have had that exact same imposter syndrome feeling so it's always nice when someone successful does too!

This book has lots of great takes on the evolution of language today.

A WORLD WITHOUT "WHOM" by Emmy J. Favilla is subtitled "The Essential Guide to Language in the BuzzFeed Age." Favilla, who is BuzzFeed's Copy Chief, should know and she certainly provides an entertaining look at rules and etiquette with respect to language. Her text describes the evolution of the guide and reasons behind many of the choices. Plus, there are plenty of tweets, emojis, and lists, including, for example, almost 4 pages filled with definitions of British swearwords. The international perspective adds a welcome note and reinforces the idea that language is ever evolving. There is even a whole chapter on How Not to Be a Jerk (when writing about sensitive topics). Or how about the "old-timey words you need to start using again" like horsefeathers, flapdoodle and bafflegab?

Upbeat and relaxed, A WORLD WITHOUT "WHOM" will make you laugh and teach you quite a bit. It has four appendices (includes BuzzFeed Style Guide Word Lists for the US and the UK), extensive notes, additional quizzes and an index to improve use-ability (see several pages on proper use of hyphens... and ellipses). Enjoy!

A WORLD WITHOUT "WHOM"

Even as recently as a few weeks ago, if someone were to have told me that the BuzzFeed style guide was an invaluable source of wisdom for writing in the internet age, I would have looked at them like they had lost their mind.

Seriously?

BuzzFeed?!

Surely this must be some kind of joke.

But now I am a believer, all thanks to Emmy Favila's insightful A World Without Whom: The Essential Guide to Language in the BuzzFeed Age.

Favila, it so happens, was the author of BuzzFeed's style guide so she is uniquely positioned to share observations on both the "language in the BuzzFeed Age" as well as the BuzzFeed style guide itself. Indeed, on that score it wouldn't be too far off to think of A World Without "Whom" as akin to "Cliff's Notes" to the BuzzFeed style guide–a brief summary of the important points with some intelligent commentary thrown in.

There are many reasons why something may be adjudged to have been well written, but the sine qua non for this is basic observance of good grammar and language conventions. English has a lot of these, which can take years of study to perfect. This is why some language sticklers tend to be purists about how the written word ought to be employed; not out of meanness or even snobbery (though there is that, too) but often out of respect for nuances and niceties of language itself.

Yet at the same time, language is also something organic. That is to say, language is constantly evolving and adapting to the times. If it were not, no new words or turns of phrase would ever find their way into the lexicons of the world, and our ability to communicate would remain static, limited, and quite frankly boring. Such is the beauty of language that after we are taught in grammar school about all manner of rules we realize just as quickly that many of these rules are regularly broken.

Favila's book pays homage to both these characteristics of language, ably demonstrating–can it be?–that both can actually co-exist. True, much of the book is some amalgam of "how the BuzzFeed style guide came to be" and "excerpts from the BuzzFeed style guide," but at its core the book serves to communicate two simple ideas. First, that it is critical at least to be internally consistent in one's style and grammar choices when writing. And second, that when faced with dilemmas of language forced upon us by a world that changes faster than the ability of grammarians to cope, observe what others do, and don't be afraid to jump into uncharted territory while figuring things out.

Much of A World Without "Whom" is written in the breezy manner of a blogger possessing a possibly unhealthy obsession with Urban Dictionary, and is therefore oddly fascinating and edutaining. But take a little more time to read and it's impossible to miss the book's distinctly philosophical streak, with musings on the English language and the art of writing in a technology-enabled world. It's fantastic that Favila investigates how style guides such as the Associated Press Stylebook or the Chicago Manual of Style confront specific language conundrums, and compares these to how the BuzzFeed guide would do so, sharing the thought process that went on to shape BuzzFeed's approach. There's a lot for writers, both veteran and aspiring, to learn right there.

It turns out that the BuzzFeed style guide is well regarded as the style guide for the internet. I believe that now–and it was Emmy Favila's A World Without "Whom" that made a believer out of me.

Style guide for the social media generation and those that want to communicate with them.

Based on the Buzzfeed Style Guide and written by the same author, A World Without Whom goes further by explaining the whys behind the rules. Emily also pokes fun at herself and fellow copy editors along the way. She states “there is no such thing as correct style. And sometimes there’s no such thing as correct spelling.” Emily understands that words and grammar have a way of morphing through daily usage especially with today’s social media highway speeding along. However, she has a few rules drawn in the sand. Avoidance of typos, adding hyphens for clarity, using commas where necessary (including this one before the “and”), and fixing danglers (such as this). Emily also suggests using respectful language for sensitive topics like immigration, disease, suicide, race, and gender.

I learned a few things. I resolve to spend extensive time from this point forward trying not to reside in 1965 with its double spaces after sentences. Black is now preferred over African-American. Hispanic only refers to people from the Americas that were colonized by Spain (so not Brazil). However, Latino is everyone with a Latin-American origin. Periods go outside of quotes unless an entire sentence is being quoted. Other readers will also find answers to questions that have been nagging them for years.

Within this review, I used the author’s first name, which I rarely do because I usually use the book title or generic, the author. This book seems like a friend, who is also a copy editor, is telling you what she thinks about spelling and grammar. It doesn’t preach or talk down to the reader at all. Emily is humorous even when writing about her favorite subject “picking up a dictionary (lol, by which I mean, obviously, checking the internet)”. It is a fun little book about words. If you are interested in words, either as a reader or a writer, this is a great book to pick up. It is not for everyone so I give it 3 stars.

Thanks to the publisher, Bloomsbury USA, and Netgalley for an advanced review copy.

I liked this, even as someone who can admittedly be a stickler about language and grammar, always has an opinion about the Oxford comma, and is not 100% down for the social acceptance of run-on sentences. Favilla covered all of these subjects and much more in her book, which is essentially a style guide with a narrator. Reading this is about as much fun as reading a style guide can be if you plan to read it like a regular book; it’s a style guide with funny screenshots and familiar memes scattered about, but it still reads like one long style guide, in my opinion. The book is impressively detailed and doesn’t only cover language, but also how social media has changed it. Should you read it like it’s a novel? I wouldn't recommend it. Should you buy it as a reference/skim-read for your digital marketing agency employees (copy editors, copywriters, social media managers)? Yes. It’s great for people who write for the web/social media professionally or who want to but are confused by the current customs and language style—the type who would log onto Twitter today and be completely lost on every joke/meme/method of complaining.

I wasn’t terribly bothered by the author’s casual writing style, although her tendency to constantly put long sentences in parenthesis in the middle of another sentence was driving me crazy. Don’t expect to agree with her and with BuzzFeed’s style guide on everything, as I didn’t. It makes me unreasonably annoyed to see spaces around an em dash which Favilla, much to my horror, suggested is okay. These were the things that I enjoyed reading about though, and will probably buy a hardcopy of “A World Without Whom” for times when I find myself wanting a second opinion on if I should use Facebook as a verb (“Facebooking”…the answer is no) or, for the hundredth time, forgetting what “tfw” stands for.

John and Hank Green spent a third of a Dear Hank and John episode trying to decide how to spell the colloquial form of casual. Cash would be confused with money. Instead of a 17-minute discussion, they could have just asked BuzzFeed. In growing from clickbait quizzes asking “Which pie are you?” to a massive media platform targeting the most internet savvy, they’ve had to keep a grasp on current language trends. In her new book, A World Without “Whom”, Emmy Favilla discusses how language has changed, how to use it, and why precise controls don’t matter.

Oh, and casual should be shortened to caj.

A World Without “Whom” is the book all marketers and writers need to read. When we get caught up on comma placement and correct English, we need Emmy’s reminder that “A good piece of writing is engaging, interesting, and thorough. Duh, right”. Technical correctness isn’t part of that. Our audiences will relate to engaging, interesting, and thorough; they won’t notice—or care—if you capitalize laundromat or not.

This sounds like it’s a book that says language no longer matters. That’s not right. It does matter, but it’s also fluid. Local colloquialisms now spread and evolve with the internet, faster than ever before. Our audiences are now more geographically and culturally diverse. Language matters more than ever, but the old rules (and style books) are having trouble keeping up. That’s the premise of Emmy’s book. In a discussion of this continual evolution, we learn how to use English as it is today. It’s more about consistency and being understood.

Emmy’s style is entertaining and BuzzFeed-flippant. Oh, and informative. I childishly giggled at some of the examples, like the pipe parentheses butt ( | ). Emmy includes screen grabs of discussions within her team and on Twitter seeking clarifications. I agree we need a better non-gender specific term for fisherman. Speaking of gender-specific terms, there’s an important section on unnecessary mentions of gender and race. If the person’s gender or race isn’t pertinent to the discussion, please DON’T use it. And it’s rarely pertinent to the discussion. I’m thinking I need to start using man doctor — just to see the reaction.

The other section that stood out is the localization. It’s mainly comparing U.S. and U.K. English, with a little Canadian and Australian thrown in. The British swearwords guide is hilarious. Thank you for not using the cute version of bugger. My sister’s baby nickname was buggerlugs, but since discovering its full meaning I can never use it.

I read an eArc, courtesy of NetGalley. It was incomplete (missing some images and with messy formatting). I’d love to see the final copy. There are a couple of not-quite-there chapters that I don’t want to comment on in case they didn’t make the final cut.

Who Should Read A World Without “Whom”?

Everyone publishing on the internet or for non-academic/formal audiences. The final chapter is BuzzFeed’s house style guide, that’s also openly published online. It’s the most current guide available. Remember Chicago’s 2017 update is the first in 16 years. Reading A World Without “Whom” helps you stay relevant in your career and to your audiences.

A World Without “Whom” is released November 14. I recommend you get a copy.

This book tried to use a colloquial tone to make for light hearted reading but it felt like reading someone's blogs or trying to have lunch with the author and having the lunch transcribed. It didn't make for an entertaining read and the many parentheses made it very distracting. It was insightful into the world of buzzfeed, however which I liked.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I enjoyed it very much!

A hilarious, witty and well written guide to the English language in the age of technology and social media. If you feel you can't keep up with the lingo, this book will guide you step by step through the brave new world filled acronyms, abbreviations and grammar massacring sentences.

Must-read for writers: How to adapt to language changes and maintain consistency

Language changes and it is difficult to get used to new vocabulary or syntax and this is what the book is about. Emmy J. Favilla, BuzzFeed Copy Chief, in a fun-to-read manner, walks the reader through the changes but I see her main point as consistency in writing, as reflected by a large part of the book being a discussion of the Buzzfeed style guide. Indeed, the book is a great starting point for creating your own style guide. Favilla also discusses the need to tailor language to the vehicle. Favilla is not dogmatic; she sometimes displays a “who cares” attitude about some style points and she is not wrong. And although I didn’t agree with everything she wrote, I feel that Favilla wouldn’t care if I had a well-considered reason for disagreeing with her. This book is a must-read for writers who have to stay up-to-date with current trends.

Not quite what I was expecting, but a very interesting read all the same.

A World Without Whom is a look at language today. It takes a look at proper English and how our language is being transformed by the modern internet age. This is a great book on using language today and how to use it to be creative. I enjoyed this book.

Review of format: The advance electronic galley copy of this book displays inadequately on both my Kindle ebook reader and Android phone. I believe that, unless the book undergoes a major overhaul, it will continue to do so in its final version. If you read using either of these gizmos, you may wish to download the free sample chapter first to see if the display problems are a deal-breaker for you.

On the other hand, it seemed to display well on my iPad. That format, along with old-school paper, may be the best way to consume this book.

When you receive free advance copies of books like this, you are often cautioned that, yes, of course, there are going to be typographical and/or layout issues with the electronic file, and, yes, the publisher is aware of it and will deal with it. For example, in the Kindle format electronic file that I received, there are occasional blank squares. These blank squares, I understand from context, will contain a photo or screenshot referred to in nearby text. I believe that the publisher will deal with the occasional blank squares that appeared in my copy.

However, the book in the format that I received also has many screenshots that do not display well and are difficult to manipulate. Some of the screenshots are of BuzzFeed headlines. Others are of debates about style points and usage on BuzzFeed’s intra-office electronic chat platform. The latter especially are difficult to read without clicking and enlarging, which is really a lot of bother for what is frequently a single sentence, after which you must reduce the text and close the additional window to return to the main body of the text. I am not convinced that this will be fixed in the final for-sale copy.

Readers shouldn’t have to fight the formatting. The publishers should take extra steps so a book displays adequately on all devices.

Review of content: I am an enthusiastic consumer of style guides in my day job as teacher of writing to non-native speakers. I consult them to affirm (or sometimes fail to affirm) my gut feeling that a particular word or phrase is acceptable or not, by which I mean, acceptable in the academic environment that my students aspire to. This book is a welcome addition because it covers a lot of idiom, slang, and specialized vocabulary (some of which is not even obscene, e.g., showrunner) which students are using but upon which more traditional grammar luminaries like Bryan Garner have not yet deigned to comment. If you are in a similar position, this book might be very useful.

This and other style books, I believe, do not present the world as it is as much as it presents the world as the author wishes it should be. People who have spent enough time in the grammar and writing rackets to write a creditable style guide are always (in my experience) vociferous champions of clear expression, but after that their ideal worlds tend to diverge. In this case, the writer is a liberal in the US political sense of the term. Therefore, there are multiple occasions when the author writes about how transgender individuals should be characterized with dignity and respect, but people who are more prescriptive than the author on grammar matters are called “weird snobs” (Kindle location 2676).

Similarly, the author-written BuzzFeed stylebook advises (l. 3513) calling the Washington, DC, airport by its old name (National Airport) rather than its relatively new name (Reagan National Airport). Now, I am both a DC-area resident of many years and not an admirer of President Reagan. I admit to calling it “National Airport” when speaking to friends. I suspect the author shares my assessment of President Reagan. But really, its official name is Reagan National, like it or not, and it seems irresponsible to say other variations are “preferred”.

In short, this book shares certain problems with certain citizens of the country where it was published, specifically, it demands that like-minded people be addressed in a kindly manner, but refuses to treat others in the way it would like to be treated.

The BuzzFeed style guide, reproduced in this book, is also available free online here.

I received a free electronic advance review copy of this book. Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for their generosity.

Eh, I could say that I finished this book, but I won't lie. I stopped at 16%. I stopped not because it wasn't any good, as it was good. I stopped not because it wasn't well written. And I stopped not because it wasn't funny. I stopped because it was just what it says on the tin, it is an evaluation of the whys and wherefores of why the author has written a style book for Buzz Feed, explaining why, for example, microphone is no longer called a "mike" but a "mic" which, for me, just sounds weird, but language is living, and changing, at least the English language is, so who am I to argue.

And so, although this is funny, and interevesting, I don't feel I have to finish reading it to get the drift of what she is saying, I really don't needs every example she has ever run into, with little message back and forthe with her writers. Well, perhaps I do, since I don't have a copy editor, fixing my writing, but I found I wasn't looking forward to reading the book. When the time came for me to read, I thought, what else can I read instead.

With that in mind, it was time to DNF (did not finish) and move on.

So, nothing wrong with this book. I guess I am just not the linguist I think I am.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.