Language Maven Strikes Again - Hardcover

Safire, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385412991 ISBN 13: 9780385412995

Publisher: Doubleday, 1990

Synopsis

A collection of the author's weekly columns "On language" from the New York times magazine explores the idiosyncrasies of the English language

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

In this sixth collection of his syndicated "On Language" columns, Safire deals wittily, playfully and, above all, instructively with thorny linguistic issues. He takes to task writers who use the passive voice, elitists who grimly stick to "dicta" and "memoranda" despite the general preference for "-ums," and groups who declare themselves offended by the use of certain words (such as "tribes"). The lordly language maven discusses the proper use of "his/hers/theirs," the pronunciation of "vagaries," the naming of pets and perfumes, the difficulty of pinning down a definition of "secular humanism." As in previous collections, Safire includes articulate and ornery responses from the Gotcha! Gang, the Nitpickers League, and such individuals as Jacques Barzun, Daniel Moynihan and Art Buchwald.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0385412991
• ISBN 13: 9780385412995
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 447