http://www.wbur.org/2009/09/27/obit-safire WBUR is Boston's NPR News Station, featuring NPR news and programs such as Car Talk, On Point, Here & Now, Only A Game and Radio Boston. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:31:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.wbur.org/2009/09/27/obit-safire/comment-page-1#comment-1978 ruth housman Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:17:51 +0000 http://www.wbur.org/?p=6749#comment-1978 It really hit me this morning that William Safire is dead. I used to read his columns about words, when I could because they were so fascinating. I always thought of his name as aurally sapphire, and I heard the echo of sapientia in this, meaning wisdom, and certainly for words, he was a a pundit and beyond. His passion for words and word derivations was fabulous. I think it's interesting that another man, Sapir, whose name is similar, was also a wordsmith. Perhaps we actualize the potential of our names. Certainly Safire, at times, got caught in the cross fire as cross words and crosswords are part of this language "thing". Those of us who love words, or who, love to have words with each other, for good or for bad, will miss him. It really hit me this morning that William Safire is dead. I used to read his columns about words, when I could because they were so fascinating. I always thought of his name as aurally sapphire, and I heard the echo of sapientia in this, meaning wisdom, and certainly for words, he was a a pundit and beyond. His passion for words and word derivations was fabulous. I think it’s interesting that another man, Sapir, whose name is similar, was also a wordsmith. Perhaps we actualize the potential of our names. Certainly Safire, at times, got caught in the cross fire as cross words and crosswords are part of this language “thing”. Those of us who love words, or who, love to have words with each other, for good or for bad, will miss him.

]]>