Amateur grammarians, sub-editors, pedants and all-round know-alls enjoy it when someone misuses a word. We can point out the error: but I prefer the sly sense of superiority when I don’t.Of course, to engage in this sport you need to be standing on firm ground. In the past, players relied upon dictionaries, which used to lay down the law on how words should be used rather than describing how they are used. Today, though, a different authority is needed. In my case, the rock upon which I place my mighty lever of scorn has been Fowler’s Modern English Usage, specifically the second (1965) edition, revised by Sir Ernest Gowers. Fowler, as it is known, is properly prescriptive, as you need for the pedantry game, but properly argued. It is sometimes capricious,