A Civil Tongue Author:Edwin Newman Chapter titles of "A Civil Tongue" give an idea of Edwin Newman's targets: "A Fatal Slaying of the Very Worst Kind," ''A Real Super Player with Good Compassion," ''Paradigm Lost" and "Myself Will Be Back After This Message." — "A civil tongue ... means to me a language tha... more »t is not bogged down in jargon, not puffed up with false dignity, not studded with trick phrases that have lost their meaning," he wrote.
"It is direct, specific, concrete, vigorous, colorful, subtle and imaginative when it should be, and as lucid and eloquent as we are able to make it. It is something to revel in and enjoy."« less
Newman's second book which sets out to save the English language before it is forever slain. Again, written with wit and that gentle deadpan voice that is so familiar to those of us who call Newman our language guru.