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| William Safire - Seattle - August 30, 1995 |
Because I speak Argentine Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Texan English, Argentine English and now Canadian English, I have always been fascinated by the different meaning of words in those languages.
As an example the terrible and sporadic Vancouver drizzle in Argentine Spanish is garúa. But it is the Mexican version chipi-chipi that is the best.
In 1995 I had the supreme pleasure of eating chocolate covered strawberries with William Safire in his Seattle, hotel. He confessed to me that he had a narrow ankle fetish in women. He gave me this very good advice, “Alex, if you ever do PowerPoints do not read from them. That’s called “death by PowerPoint”. I do many garden and photography Powerpoints and I have never forgotten his advice.
Because Rosemary and I started reading the New York Times in its paper edition beginning around 1990 I was a fan of his column On Language.
Because I am a subscriber I am allowed 10 gift paywall-free articles per month. I have inserted them here. What is amazing is that the NY Times knew it had a problem as digital subscriptions normally have the articles a couple of days before the paper edition. This happens especially with the Sunday Edition which I get Saturday night delivered at my door at 8:30 in the evening. If you read the article on how they have adapted to the new magazine and redesigned it in a way that will make all subscribers happy you will be amazed. I was.
And best of all they have brought back On Language.
There is an advantage to be subscribed to both the print and digital edition. Particularly in the Arts Section when they feature an opening in some very good museum like the Met, the digital edition has large slide shows of the paintings.
