William Safire, former speech writer for Richard Nixon, longtime renowned conservative columnist (3,000 columns) for the left-leaning New York Times, and all-round prolific wordsman, passed away today. I always enjoyed his columns, in part because he always seemed to say new things. Other NY Times columnists return again and again to the same well to repeat their same greatest hits, but Safire always kept his ideas fresh. I especially enjoyed his annual "predictions" column, wherein he'd speculate about "what will the President's biggest global challenge be in the new year?" as well as "what will win the best picture Oscar?"
Safire, a college drop-out, also wrote "
On Language" for the newspaper's Sunday magazine. That feature considered trendy terms in news, politics and life, as well as the misuses and abuses of language by public figures. The Times' obituary included a smattering of his advice, called "Safire's Rules for Writers":
--Remember to never split an infinitive.
--Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
--Proofread carefully to see if you words out.
--Avoid cliches like the plague.
--And don’t overuse exclamation marks!!
