William Saffire’s ‘On Language’ column in The New York Times is a glorious American institution.  With its Lexicographic Irregulars (a nod to Sherlock Holmes’s gang of street urchins), the Squad Squad (redundancy spotters) and assorted Phrasedicks, Nitpickers’ League  and Gotcha! Gang members, Saffire has created an alternative universe supremely suited for those of us curious about (or intoxicated with) language.  Both the title and the last line of the doggerel above came from a collection of his columns in book form: ‘In Love With Norma Loquendi’, (Random House 1994).  Fairness compels me to point out that the last line was taken from a letter addressed to Mr. Saffire by one Herman Gross from Great Neck, New York.