Journal Editorial Report: The week's worst and best from Kim Strassel, Kyle Peterson and Dan Henninger. Image: Richard B. Levine/Zuma Press Nothing bored me more during the summer of 2008 than the ...

THE ancient notion of English grammar was one of certain categories of words, and certain rules for their proper use. This is still the idea implied in most of the dictionary definitions of the word.

My Atlantic colleague John McWhorter and I must have received the same high-frequency language-nerd alert, audible only to the types of people whose idea of fun is Esperanto grammar. We both recently ...