I'm not trying to turn my blog into an obituary column, but have to note the passing of William Safire, conservative columnist for the New York Times, and one of the foremost students of the artistry of language. Among his most remembered phrases, and one of my favorites, was the alliterative "nattering nabobs of negativism" written for Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew when Safire was a speechwriter in the Nixon administration.
Take My Word for It, from 1986, dealing more with language than with politics, is the only Safire book I own. It's been quite some time since I read it, but I would like to thank Bill Safire for his influence on any positive planishing of my prose that might've resulted.
1 comment:
I bet it was a lenghty literary leaflet that influenced you.
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