Coming to Terms

When William Safire delineates the difference between __misinformation__ and __disinformation__ or "distances himself" from clichés, people sit up and take notice. Which is not to say that Safire's readers always take the punning pundit at his word: they don't, and he's got the letters to prove it. Among the entries in __Coming to Terms__, this all-new collection of Safire's "On Language" columns, you'll read the repartee of Lexicographic Irregulars great and small. John Haim of New York sets in concrete what properly to call a cement truck, while Charlton Heston challenges an interpretation of Hamlet's "to take arms against a sea of troubles" and Gene Shalit passes along his favorite Yogi Berra-ism. Bringing them all together are dozens of Safire's most illuminating and witty columns, from "Right Stuffing" to "Getting Whom." When William Safire comes to terms, there's never a dull moment. Selections from the author's column, "On language," including letters to the author, which originally appeared in the New York times, 1986-1988