Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English (Revised edition)
Eric Partridge was a master of linguistic scholarship. Author ofA Dictionary of  Cliches,Shakespeare's Bawdy, and  many others, Partridge'sUsage 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," thaterratashould be confined to corrections in books, and thatprecipitously(very steeply) should not be misused in the place ofprecipitately(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 fromacademictoyuppie, rounding out a scholarly  reference that maintains the Partridge standard.