A curious reader: “Don’t you mind John Podhoretz calling you
’vituperative’?”
No, Ma’am, not the least bit. It’s an adjective I have been very
comfortable with, ever since I heard the late Auberon Waugh define opinion
journalism to be “the vituperative arts.” I hope I am not ALWAYS
vituperative, any more than a soldier spends all his time in combat. When I
feel the urge to vituperate, though, I yield to it at once.
The roots of “vituperate,” by the way, are the noun vitium (fault, defect,
blemish, imperfection) and the verb parare (to prepare, make ready,
provide). Hence vituperare, to blame, scold, or censure.