Usage and Abusage 3e: A Guide to Good English - Softcover

Eric Partridge was a master of linguistic scholarship. Author of A Dictionary of Cliches, Shakespeare's Bawdy, and many others, Partridge's Usage and Abusage, first out in 1942, was last updated by him in 1973, six years before his death. But life and language tick on, even without Partridge. Now, Janet Whitcut has revised his classic to keep up with the 1990s. One is reminded that "ablution is now intolerably pedantic" for "hand washing," that errata should be confined to corrections in books, and that precipitously (very steeply) should not be misused in the place of precipitately (violently hurried). The entry on punctuation runs for pages and is lucid, literate, and lively. The "Vogue Words" section is completely updated and provides today's connotations for words and phrases from academic to yuppie, rounding out a scholarly reference that maintains the Partridge standard.

Eric Partridge (1894-1979) was a New Zealand lexicographer of the English language. He served in the Australian infantry during WWI, during which time he developed an interest in military slang. In 1945, he wrote The Dictionary of RAF Slang after working for the air force, and wrote a total of over forty books about the English language over the course of his lifetime.