author: william safire

Coming to Terms

... Romeothinks Juliet is dead; situational irony occurswhen a person is unaware thatthe oppositeof what heexpects will happen. Example: “Youhave studied hard fortwo weeksfor afinal exam, onlyto find out on exam day that you have studied ...

Safire's Political Dictionary

... Malfeasance contains the French prefix for " evil " and refers to deliberate acts of serious wrongdoing , as in illegal dumping of waste materials to save costs despite knowledge of the law . Somebody who com- mits misfeasance may be ...

Watching My Language:: Adventures in the Word Trade

... Michael Thomas Flaherty ... on the campus of Harvard University. “The couple changed their surname yesterday to Flaherman. Mrs. Flaherman, 26 years old, and her husband, 27, are 1987 graduates of Harvard.” The item goes on to say, “Mr ...

Safire's Political Dictionary

... happy campers that gets off the bus after its 70-mile journey.” A year later ... here.” When the State Department in 2004 had to admit that its statistic ... Days Are Here Again Campaign song of FDR in 1932. Hit songs during the ...

Safire's Political Dictionary

... meaning is the same. The President and conservative RepubliSynonyms for dustbin are used in vari- ous translations. In 1982, for example, Ronald Reagan used the term in a London speech: “The march of freedom and democ- racy ... will ...

How Not to Write: The Essential Misrules of Grammar

... sentence's structure around: "The phrases offend the ear and are confusing to the mind because the balance was knocked skewhiffy." To derogate that messed-up sentence in perfect parallel: It is a hodgepodge of tenses, a farrago of ...

The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time: Wit and Wisdom from the Popular "On Language" Column in The New York Times Magazine

... nother lass Who baked that (pie), I vow; But still I (moo) and (moo) for you, As sick as any cow. Oops! The term aus gebrant is literally non-existent. The correct spelling of the verb ausbrennen in the perfect tense is ausgebrannt ...

No Uncertain Terms: More Writing from the Popular "On Language" Column in The New York Times Magazine

... swimming , propelling oneself in water with the arms . In 1926 , in The Sun Also Rises , Ernest Hemingway had a character say , " I found my swimming suit , wrapped it with a comb in a towel . " That led to the clipped swimsuit and the ...

Language Maven Strikes Again

... Hotel , we had a different reservation card for each of the many functions . Each card indicated time , place and dress suggested . A. N. Pritzker , the patriarch of the Pritzker family - owners of Hyatt Hotels - asked me the difference ...

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