In the pre-Internet days, the reference desk in a large public library (of the sort where I spent several years early in my career) would be back by a collection of ready-reference volumes to assist in answering patron questions. We got calls all the time to settle arguments about the language, its proper use, the origin of words and terms, the rules of grammar, and "what does that really mean?" The authors come at the subject from a different direction, having both been newspaper and magazine editors.