Sunday, September 27, 2009

William Safire, Nixon Speech Writer and Linguist, Dead at 79

William Safire may the the reason I started reading the New York Times Editorial Page in high school. Despite this, I still tend to mix my modifiers.

William Safire, a speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon and a Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist for The New York Times who also wrote novels, books on politics and a Malaprop’s treasury of articles on language, died at a hospice in Rockville, Md. on Sunday. He was 79.
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5 comments:

  1. _J_September 27, 2009 at 7:10 PM

    Oughn't we hate him since he was in some way related to Nixon?

    Like how we hate Peggy Noonan?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike LewisSeptember 27, 2009 at 8:45 PM

    Peggy Noonan is clearly a moron - but she had nothing to do with Nixon. She wrote for Ronny and The Slightly Better Bush.

    Nixon is one of my favorite presidents. He was a slime ball, but he had style.

    So, No. We should love him because he is the king of modern word nerds.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mike LewisSeptember 27, 2009 at 8:48 PM

    For Example: Eschew dialect, irregardless.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mike LewisSeptember 27, 2009 at 8:52 PM

    or this Vogue-Word Watch

    ReplyDelete
  5. _J_September 28, 2009 at 12:47 AM

    "Use the semicolon properly, always use it where it is appropriate; and never where it isn't."

    heheheehehehe

    ReplyDelete