I’ve always been a regular reader of William Safire’s Sunday NY Times “On Language” column in the Magazine section. He wrote about language in general, proper grammar (or the lack thereof), correct usage and the origin of words for thirty or so years. He wrote many books and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize as well as many other awards. We didn’t agree on politics but I loved his work “on language.”
William Safire died on September 27, 2009 at seventy-nine years of age in Maryland of pancreatic cancer.
William Safire 2006
I have been fascinated by words all my life. Why do people choose one word over another word? How and where did the words or phrases originate and then find their way into the public domain? What is the meaning they convey?
Even more interesting to me is the misuse of words, phrases and grammar.
*
I found over the years of correcting my own language errors that most people could give a rat’s ass about proper language usage or for that matter even simple spelling. Now I’m pretty sure you’re not imagining a rat’s ass at all here and that’s the interesting thing. We string certain words together to arrive “voilà!” at an understanding of meaning different from the intrinsic definition of each word alone. It’s fascinating to me.
Our nation is rife with grammatical errors from the bottom all the way to the top. Editing programs have no idea whether you meant “form” or “from” but it really can make a big difference with many words.
*
If you correct someone on spelling or content they look at you like you’re an anal retentive perfectionist nutcase these days. The “Well, you get what I meant, so what’s your worry?” crowd doesn’t care.
AAaaaaarrrgggggghhhhh this makes my head want to explode.
The juxtaposition of two simple letters or terms can change the meaning of everything going from clarity to confusion and misunderstanding in the few seconds it takes to see, hear and of course to repeat the mistake.
Spelling, grammar/syntax and meaning are important to expression and communication in any language.
As Willliam Safire pointed out many times in his sunday column, quite often with a considerable hunk of humor, we don’t care enough about where words and phrases came from and why they are used or misused so commonly. He was there to illuminate the language path and educate whenever it might be possible.
*
Language should not need an interpreter to convey intent and meaning.
In the area of communication William Safire was incredibly talented.
One of my language usage gurus, so to speak.
I know I could never be as good at proper usage and conveying meaning as he was.
However, I could enjoy his column and try my damnedest to keep trying, inspired by someone that shared a great interest in language and words with far greater ability.
Was my interest in words encouraged by by Mr. Safire?
Definitely.
*
Rest in peace William Safire, you will be missed in this household.
To everyone else that doesn’t care one whit about words or how they are joined together to convey meaning other than “Where’s the remote?” and “I’m hungry!”: I will never give up.
Oh well, like whatever, you know, dude.
Or in my case would it be dudette, dude-ess, or probably just “hey lady?”
Oh, I just dunno.
I know people like Jay Leno’s “Jaywalking” segments on the Tonight Show and they can be funny but isn’t anyone else bothered by the lack of language understanding many people have (not to mention the lack of general knowledge).
It makes me laugh but I really want to cry at the same time.
G’night
And she smiles…
Literally.
