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Each summer, Oxford University Press USA and Bryant Park in New York City partner for their summer reading series Word for Word Book Club. The Bryant Park Reading Room offers free copies of book club selections while supply lasts, compliments of Oxford University Press, and guest speakers lead the group in discussion. On Tuesday 5 August 2014, Ammon Shea, author of Reading the OED and Bad English, leads a discussion on Shakespeare’s King Lear.

What was your inspiration for Bad English?

I am often guilty of spectacular incompetence when I try to use the English language, and I wanted to find some justification for my poor usage. I am happy to report that we have all been committing unseemly acts with English for many hundreds of years.

Where do you do your best writing?

In library basements, preferably when they are empty of people.

Did you have an “a-ha!” moment that made you want to be a writer?

I hadn’t so much of an ‘a-ha’ moment that made me want to be a writer as I had a series of ‘uh-oh’ moments while doing other things that did not involve writing.

Which author do you wish had been your 7th grade English teacher?

Gerald Durrell

What is your secret talent?

I can distinguish between Sonny Stitt and Charlie Parker, and between Phil Woods and Gene Quill, in under four measures.

What is your favorite book?

Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal.

Who reads your first draft?

My wife reads my first drafts, and, if she is feeling particularly generous, my second and third ones as well.

Do you read your books after they’ve been published?

Not unless I absolutely have to.

Do you prefer writing on a computer or longhand?

I have no marked preference. I will write on whatever is at hand, and this ranges from cellular telephones to antiquated typewriters.

What book are you currently reading? (And is it in print or on an e-Reader?)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with my son, and in print.

What word or punctuation mark are you most guilty of overusing?

I reject the premise of this question.

If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?

Someone who wished he was a writer.

Ammon Shea is the author of Bad English, Reading the OED, The Phone Book, Depraved English (with Peter Novobatzky), and Insulting English (with Peter Novobatzky). He has worked as consulting editor of American dictionaries at Oxford University Press, and as a reader for the North American reading program of the Oxford English Dictionary. He lives in New York City with his wife (a former lexicographer), son (a potential future lexicographer), and two non-lexical dogs.

For over 100 years Oxford World’s Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford’s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. You can follow Oxford World’s Classics on Twitter and Facebook. Read previous interviews with Word for Word Book Club guest speakers.

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Image couresty of Jenny Davidson.

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By Deborah Rook

This is my dog Charlie. Like many pet owners in England and Wales I see my dog as a member of my family. He shares the ups and downs of my family life and is always there for me. But what many people don’t realise is that Charlie, like all pets, is a legal ‘thing’. He falls into the same category as my sofa. The law distinguishes between legal persons and legal things and Charlie is a legal thing and is therefore owned as personal property. If my husband and I divorce and both want to keep Charlie, our dispute over where Charlie will live would come within the financial provision proceedings in the family courts. What approach will the family courts take to resolve this dispute? It is likely that the courts will adopt a property law test and give Charlie to the person who has a better claim to the property title. This can be evidenced by whose name appears on the adoption certificate from the local dogs home or who pays the food and veterinary bills. Applying a property test could mean that if my husband had a better property claim, Charlie would live with him even if Charlie is at risk of being mistreated or neglected.

Charlie the dog. Photo courtesy of Deborah Rook

Property versus welfare

Case law from the United States shows that two distinct tests have emerged to resolving pet custody disputes: firstly, the application of pure property law principles as discussed above; and secondly, the application of a ‘best interests of the animal’ test which has similarities to the ‘best interests of the child’ test used in many countries to determine the residency of children in disputes between parents. On the whole, the courts in the United States have used the property law test and rejected the ‘best interest of the animal’ test. However, in a growing number of cases the courts have been reluctant to rely solely on property law principles. For example, there are cases where one party is given ownership of the dog, having a better claim to title, but the other is awarded visitation rights to allow them to visit. There is no other type of property for which an award of visitation rights has been given. In another case the dog was given to the husband even though the wife had a better claim to title on the basis that the dog was at risk of severe injury from other dogs living at the wife’s new home.

Pets as sentient and living property

What the US cases show is that there is a willingness on the part of the courts to recognise the unique nature of this property as living and sentient. A sentient being has the ability to experience pleasure and pain. I use the terminology ‘pet custody disputes’ as opposed to ‘pet ownership disputes’ because it better acknowledges the nature of pets as living and sentient property. There are important consequences that flow from this recognition. Firstly, as a sentient being this type of property has ‘interests’, for example, the interest in not being treated cruelly. In child law, the interest in avoiding physical injury is so fundamental that in any question concerning the residency of a child this interest will prevail and a child will never be knowingly placed with a parent that poses a danger to the child. A pet is capable of suffering pain and has a similar relationship of dependence and vulnerability with its owners to that which a child has with its parents. Society has deemed the interest a pet has in avoiding unnecessary suffering as so important as to be worthy of legislation to criminalise the act of cruelty. There is a strong case for arguing that this interest in avoiding physical harm should be taken into account when deciding the residency of a family pet and should take precedence, where appropriate, over the right of an owner to possession of their property. This would be a small, but significant, step to recognising the status of pets at law: property but a unique type of property that requires special treatment. Secondly, strong emotional bonds can develop between the property and its owner. It is the irreplaceability of this special relationship that means that the dispute can’t be resolved by simply buying another pet of the same breed and type. This special relationship should be a relevant consideration in resolving the future residency of the pet and in some cases may prevail over pure property law considerations.

I argue that the unique nature of this property — the fact that it has an interest in not suffering pain and the fact that it has an ability to form special relationships — requires the adoption of a test unique to pet custody disputes: one that fits within the existing property category but nevertheless recognises the special nature of this living and sentient property and consequently permits consideration of factors that do not normally apply to other types of property in family law disputes.

Deborah Rook is a Principal lecturer in Law at the School of Law, Northumbria University and specialises in animal law. She is the author of ‘Who Gets Charlie? The Emergence of Pet Custody Disputes in Family Law: Adapting Theoretical Tools from Child Law’ (available to read for free for a limited time) in the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family.

The subject matter of the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family comprises the following: analyses of the law relating to the family which carry an interest beyond the jurisdiction dealt with, or which are of a comparative nature; theoretical analyses of family law; sociological literature concerning the family and legal policy; social policy literature of special interest to law and the family; and literature in related disciplines (medicine, psychology, demography) of special relevance to family law and research findings in the above areas.

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A really cool babe I know was interviewed for the wonderful Class of 2K8 group blog. I learned so much from this chick's interview. You can too. See here: http://classof2k8.blogspot.com/ (At this rate, I'll be the charter member of the class of 3K8. Do you think I will finally figure out how to burn CDs by then?)

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Some times we know when we've said too much, when we've complained beyond the pale, when we've told all the world we're miserable over a little scratch or a last-second Blooming Pimple.

And then there are days like today. When every whine and kvetch and tantrum is utterly justified.

It's Easy Bake Oven hot in here. The central air conditioner is either out of the juice it needs to do its thing or it's just that much hotter outside at this late hour than it should be.

I just killed an ugly swarm of baby ants marching in and around the dog's food bowl. Eureka. Book me on the Home Shopping Network. I just found a new use for a can of Arrid Extra Dry. (If it can kill odors....) ;> (Forgive me, you humane and lovely people.) It was all I had available at the moment. They had to go. I am talking about 100 ants. They walk fast. Who knew? At least they went out with fresh-smelling underarms. We should all be so lucky.

But the worst part of this horrific day was when I encountered, face-to-face, a 18-20 year old attempting to break into my house via the bathroom skylight in the ceiling. He was one step away from jumping down to the floor and doing G-d knows what to me and the house-- and my daughter, who was home with me.

Oh My G-d. A nightmare. My worst. A violation of my home and sanctity. He was yanking open the skylight when I saw his face looking down at me. His body was crouched, like a wiry, malevolent spider in still life.

I never knew I could scream this loud. I cannot believe I was only Co-Captain of the Boosters cheering squad with the sailor's mouth I apparently acquired somewhere on the road. ;>

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" I screamed in the shrillest, most piercing pitch of A triple sharp sharp.

Note to the mature readers out there: (Do I have any?! Raise your keyboards. All together now.) There may have been a few expletives tucked into the above-referenced sentence but I'm taking artistic license to omit the Naughty Bits here in this edit-free re-telling of the saga. Trust me. Those words do not add to the story.

Face to face with a home invader! Face to face with something I hate more than mice. (Note to self: post the "I Hate" meme soon.)

He fled. I freaked. I spent the rest of the afternoon entertaining police officers and detectives and sniffing dogs in my home. I apologized for the mess. I offered them food. (Can't shut off the Betty Crocker Good Hostess spigot, even in the middle of a crime scene.)

My dog, Charlie, is the true hero. If not for his incessant, mad as hell dog barks, I would not have known to follow the sounds of banging and tools to the 2nd floor bathroom.

He deserves a medal for his heroics. I deserve peace and quiet.

Does anyone have any to spare?

Please?

A special thanks to children's author Audrey Vernick for watching over me, today and always.

This is the cats' favorite window, and they squabble over who gets this spot for a nap.
Charlie changed from this pose to a wonderful "leg and tail draped over the edge" pose, but Wendell had to go stir things up before I was able to capture it.

I like how Charlie and the towel are "blank" against the floral pattern in the shears and the woodgrain on the chest. The horizontal line is the bottom edge of the open window. The blinds were visible through the shear curtains, but I decided against doing all those additional horizontals, thought it would muck it up. If this was a finished illustration I'd have worked all that out. That's the fun of a sketch...you can just 'leave it'!

While I was slaving over the taxes today, the rest of my family was enjoying a nice lazy sleepy afternoon.

Wendell. Wendell Shmendell. He was home from the hospital, then went back in 2 days later for another 5 days, and is newly home again. We now know has some neurological bladder thing that isn't fixable. So I don't know how long he'll be with us. I can't think about it.

For now though he is so happy to be home on the comfy bed instead of the intensive care ward with a catheter and IV and all the other strange sounds and people and kitties and doggies and mediciney things. And you know I'm very very very very happy to have him!



Charlie. My love. My big lug. "Thanks Mom for putting these towels on this chair, they make a really comfy bed!"


Shmoopie. My little quiet shadow kitty who likes to sit right on top of whatever I'm doing, especially if its "money papers" (bills).


Isabella. In another month or so she'll get taken to the groomers for her summer shave ~ they do a "lion cut" which is just the cutest thing. They leave her mane and feet and a little bob on the end of her tail. The rest is all bare! But in the hot hot hot summer weather, she's much cooler, and best of all, she loves the haircut!


And Saachi. Last but not least. He's my newest. He showed up a couple of weeks ago and just glommed onto us. He's an older, ratty, beat up sweet sweet sweet tomcat (who's not a tomcat anymore!). You can't see how cute his face is here because he's lolling in a post-catnip toy session and is a little stoned. (If you want the BEST catnip toys EVER, get these ~ HotCats Catnip Toys ~ OMG, they're fabulous, you won't be sorry!)

So that's pretty much how things go around here. I work, they lay around.
Next time I'm coming back as one of my own cats, if that's possible.

“Keiko-sensei is the best. She has so many albums and has great saxophone players on almost all of them. My favorite solo is the one from “Souvenir” and also the one from “Light in the Rain” and I can play them both on my alto and on my tenor. We’re gonna add her site to our Fun Places to Visit List ’cause she’s one of our favorite musicians. Ja!”