Author sees big increase in informal, coarse, and in-your-face language.

In the 2nd edition of his very instructive book, On the Art of Writing Copy, direct marketing expert Herschell Gordon Lewis writes that the web and special prosecutor Kenneth Starr's lurid report on President Clinton's "peccadilloes" are among the influences that have made public discourse more informal, coarse, and in-your-face.

His preface, for example, includes a number of space ads featuring the phrase "kick butt" (or in the case of the more sophisticated Lincoln Navigator, "kick derriere").

E-mail has also made informality more widely acceptable, so copywriters are increasingly using contractions such as "I'm" and "you're." But Lewis provides page after page of uncompromising instructions on the use of language--separating the slang phrase from the illiterate one, the informal one from the one in bad taste.

Thirty-four pages of wrist watch display ads may turn off the newsletter marketer, but Lewis's book is big enough (412 pages, 8 1/2 x 11") and thorough enough (27 chapters covering every aspect of copywriting) to make it a worthwhile purchase.