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In Love With Norma Loquendi (Hardcover)

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3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This latest collection of Safire's (Quoth the Maven, LJ 8/93) internationally syndicated columns on language will appeal to language buffs and mavens. How did it come to be that one kind of bubba dispenses chicken soup while another is a Southern football player? What does it mean to "cock a snook"? In the language of diplomacy, how do contact, dialogue, and exchange differ? Though a political conservative, Safire is a linguistic liberal, accepting, though sometimes reluctantly, that language evolves. "It's me" sounds okay. Since his chapters can be read randomly, readers less fascinated by D.C.-speak than Safire can skip those sections. Safire often seems star-struck: Charlton Heston called to ask him whether "larger than life" implies "unreal"; "Jacques" [Barzun] dropped him a note commenting on the word denounce. This is a book that will appeal to those who love "the language dodge." (Index not seen.) [For another view of Safire, see "Safire Reads LJ," Inside Track, LJ 7/94, p. 72.-Ed.]-Peter Dollard, Alma Coll. Lib., Mich.
--Peter Dollard, Alma Coll. Lib., Mich.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The best part of Safire's collected columns is the responses from readers that he selects to publish: the corrections from the "Gotcha Gang," the erudite explications from professorial types, the defenses from public officials, etc. Not that Safire's nationally syndicated columns aren't worth reading again and again, but printed with reactions from his fans and critics they are even better. Here, for instance, you'll find Safire's exquisite meditations on summer reading, whether it's to be done "on the beach," "at the shore," or, in New Jersey, "down the shore." Many other colloquialisms, common expressions, and mangled terms are taken apart, examined, and put to use in witty, instructive ways. Denise Perry Donavin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

Hardcover
Publisher: Random House Value Publishing (October 2, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0517172380
ISBN-13: 978-0517172384
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds

Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,798,160 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A generally interesting, sometimes tedious book., June 17, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: In Love with Norma Loquendi (Hardcover)

Safire's In Love with Norma Loquendi is a compendium of previously published articles coupled to responses from readers. The book is an eclectic collection of uses and misuses of words and phrases. For those with an interest in the fine definition and use of words, the book is a reasonable read. It is particularly good for those who like to read short segments, move on, and return to the book later. Each section is a page or so in length - just right for certain situations where a few minutes of reading is all you want. Some of these sections get a bit long-winded and tedious, but the next page generally has a change of subject.

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0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Broadened my emotional and religious horizons., June 17, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: In Love with Norma Loquendi (Hardcover)

We're in love with her too

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2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars "Woe is me" is not a copula, March 12, 2000

By	Michael J. Connor (Waltham, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: In Love with Norma Loquendi (Hardcover)

Safire begins his book with an essay on copulas. Copulas are linking verbs, and most often they are formed from the verb "be." " John is a boy" is a copula. One of the traditional rules of English grammar is that a noun or pronoun must be in the nominative case to complete the meaning of a copula. These days in all but the most formal speech and writing pronouns in the objective case are more likely to be used with copulas. But then Safire makes an error. He writes "The grammatically pristine form of "Woe is me" is "Woe is I" or "Woe am I" but go tell that to Ophelia and Isaiha." "Woe is me" is not a copula. It is a "noun + verb + dative object" construction. There is no controversy here. The great grammarians Matzner, Abbott, Franz, Jespersen, Visser and so on have all demonstrated that in Early Modern English dative objects were less likely to have prepositions before them then dative objects today. Safire quotes a professor who says as much but Safire will have none of it. He says that Shakespeare did "intend to equate `woe' and `me.'" He then goes on to write "Sometimes the truth lies flat and you only confuse yourself looking for "understood" hidden words." By ignoring the facts Safire got it wrong. There is nothing hidden here. "Me" is understood to be a dative. In Old English the dative pronoun for the first person singular was "me," the accusitive was "mec," and the nomanitve was "ic." In Old English there was no need to use a preposition to mark the dative pronoun. In fact to use a preposition with a dative pronoun was a pleonasm. With the decay of inflectional forms in Middle English period, the pronoun "mec" became obsolete and was replaced by the dative pronoun "me". Because of this there rose a need to distinguish the dative from the accusitive and this was done by using prepositions. But the unmarked dative, the dative without a preposition remaind a regular feature English throughout the Early Modern English period.

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