Learn English – A laudatory expression for “an expert in grammar”

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All too often, the 19th century scholars who wrote volumes on English grammar are today accused of being pedantic; persnickety; puritanical and prescriptivist poppycock grammarians.

In the 21st century the epithets grammar Nazi and grammar police are launched at anyone brave (or foolish) enough to point out that the word photo's does not require an apostrophe, or that noone should be written as two words "no one". Which aren't even grammar corrections but spelling ones. Anyway…

What do call a person who is an expert on the English language and its grammar? A person who always provides a clear answer to any language problem, a person who is infinitely helpful, modest and kind. Do we only call them an "expert" on grammar?

Is there a laudatory expression that we can use?

Here are just two I found on EL&U, the third was coined by me, but I'm sure there are many others.

  • crazy grammar genius
  • punctuation czar
  • grammar queen

N.B
EL&U rightly frowns on long lists, so no more than three suggestions please.

Best Answer

A term that has laudatory connotations is language maven. Wikipedia defines maven as follows:

A maven (also mavin) is a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass knowledge on to others. The word maven comes from Hebrew, meaning "one who understands", based on an accumulation of knowledge.

As Wikipedia further notes:

Since the 1980s it (maven) has become more common since William Safire adopted it to describe himself as "the language maven". The word is mainly confined to American English, but did not appear with the publication of the 1976 edition of Webster's Third New International Dictionary; it is, however, included in the Oxford English Dictionary second edition (1989) and the American Heritage Dictionary fourth edition (2000). Numerous individuals and entities now affix maven or mavin to assert their expertise in a particular area.

The following is an extract from The New York Times, the newspaper in which Safire wrote a regular column about language issues (called On Language) until his death in 2009:

Though he jokingly anointed himself “Usage Dictator,” he was never comfortable with expectations that he play the part of language absolutist, handing down infallible decrees. “Maven” was a title more to his liking, a Yiddishism that he said contained its own “note of self-mockery.” (An incurable paronomasiac, he also enjoyed punning off the word, as in his 1993 collection of columns, “Quoth the Maven.”)

And further:

As battles raged between prescriptive grammarians and descriptive linguists and lexicographers, Safire more often than not played both sides against the middle.

Note: The On Language articles in The New York Times were continued for a while by maven Ben Zimmer, who is also a regular contributor to Language Log.

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