Civil Tongue

by Edwin Newman

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Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Humor

303 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1976

About the author

Edwin Newman, narrator of the Science and Discovery series, is a celebrated journalist, author, and lecturer. He was for thirty-five years a television journalist for NBC News, and he's familiar to millions as a moderator of presidential debates. Mr. Newman tells the story of science and discovery in his distinctively clear and direct style.

Reviews

[Nathan]

50 years ago, Edwin Newman wrote this book about his experience with the English language of his time as an extension to his first publication, Strictly Speaking. For Newman, practicing language, especially writing, should be a precise affair when possible, although some rule bending is to be encouraged from time to time. Sloppiness seems to be the cardinal sin that must be rebutted by the modern practitioner; after all, the point of this technology is to communicate, to share ideas, and half-hearted attempts at this are not only a disservice to the members of the conversation, they are a crime against the medium.

Newman addresses the flak he got from the pedantry that escapes between the lines of his first book, and which I was planning on calling out in this review, but his self-awareness has pardoned him by my reckoning. He asks readers to interpret his repeated exercises in mock corrupted prose as a form of doting affection for his American English. I can grant him this, but he is of the old guard and I think it is out of pity for them that I make the excuse. The old guard is dead and American English has mobilized and globalized.

A Civil Tongue predates the Internet and what it did to language, though the writing was on the wall and Newman was reading the signs in the subtext. Having passed away in 2010, I’m now curious if the author wrote on the topic later in his life, or if his retirement from NBC in 1984 and the scattered projects rounding out the decade prompted an increasing disengagement from televised dueling of pens and swords. He does not seem to be the type of fellow who would keep his opinions on these things to himself, so I will keep an eye out.

The journalism that Newman champions seems to be in short supply now, or it is simply too sophisticated and becomes buried under the avalanche of partisan detritus that clogs up the pipes of our modern news machines. I think the most important phrase from the entire book was tucked into an unassuming paragraph on page 107, and if nothing else is to be recalled this proverb stands firmly on its own: “We are all safer when language is specific. It improves our chances at knowing what is going on”

[Michael Parker]

I like this and the first one, but I found myself passing over some parts in both. He likes to catalog examples of whichever misuse of language he's discussing. He likes to write mini-stories (in dialog) illustrating that misuse. Both can become tedious.

[Ani]

Language evolves. The book has become dated.

[Robert]

This book sat on my parents' shelves all through my childhood. When my grandfather passed, his copy of the book came home too. I grabbed that copy. By that time I had come to know of Mr. Newman. I love this book. Newman's description of the word "hopefully" here is classic. It should be a must read for everyone.

Hopefully—as in "Hopefully, this afternoon the fog will lift and we can get out there with a helicopter" (from the United States Coast Guard in New Orleans); "Hopefully it is a shorter-range off their federal funds" (Madalyn Murray O'Hair, opponent of prayer in the schools); and "Hopefullythe dead man will float to the surface* after about ten days" (author unknown)—has hopelessly infected other words heretofore immune. I have, for example, seen an advertisement for a California Riesling that was "regretfully available only in very limited quantities." That is the hopefully disease spreading, but no variation is likely to approach the majesty of the announcement by the president of the Green Bay Packers, Dominic Olejniczak, when discussing the hiring a new coach. "We hope, he said, "to have an announcement before the end of the week, hopefully before that."

This has been rivaled in my experience only by an application of the foundation stone of American English, "Y'know." A friend in Detroit told me he heard a colleague say "Y'know, you never know."

[JJ Waggy]

Sort of a snarky predecessor to "Eats, Shoots and Leaves". It was written in the 70s, so the references are rather dated, but the dry wit and straight-faced sarcasm are just delightful. Newman's harangue of the state of American English is simply piercing to those who love the ins and outs of language politics (and political language!)--or those who just love to laugh at others' mistakes.

[Brett]

Non-fiction

[Charles]

Good fun for language buffs.

[Deidre]

trying to teach us how to change American language from junk food to something far better. I cannot desribe this, you just have to read him

[Pat]

I thought I would enjoy this book. Newman is so clever. It's just a little dated for me to enjoy in 2013.

[Libby]

Signed