Identical twins Laurel and Daphne Wolfe share an obsession with words, speaking a secret "twin" tongue of their own as toddlers. As adults making their way in 1980s Manhattan, copy editor Daphne devotes herself to preserving the dignity of Standard English, while Laurel, who gives up teaching kindergarten to write poetry, is drawn to the chameleon nature of the written and spoken word. In this comic novel by the author of They May Not Mean To, But They Do, their fraying twinship finally shreds completely when the sisters go to war over custody of their most prized family heirloom: Merriam Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition.