Monday, September 28, 2009

William Safire: The Last Word

William Safire, apparently the only intelligent writer at the New York Times, has died. I thought for sure he was older than time and immortal. He loved the English language and wrote "On Language", a column that would delve into some of the more peculiar usages or interesting origins of words and phrases. He was the first columnist I can remember "following", purely for that column. Bill Clinton wanted to punch him in the nose for describing Hillary as a "congenital liar". That's pretty much proof Safire was a good guy, right there.

The word of the day is "apotheosis".

apo·the·o·sis
Pronunciation: \ə-ˌpä-thē-ˈō-səs, ˌa-pə-ˈthē-ə-səs\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural apo·the·o·ses
Etymology: Late Latin, from Greek apotheōsis, from apotheoun to deify, from apo- + theos god
Date: circa 1580

1 : elevation to divine status : deification
2 : the perfect example : quintessence

2 Comments:

Blogger cube said...

I followed his column as well.
Safire was a master wordsmith.

8:55 AM, September 30, 2009  
Blogger cube said...

BTW I came here via weasel's blog. I figured anyone known as bad cat robot couldn't be that bad ;-)

8:57 AM, September 30, 2009  

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