News of William Safire's demise on Erev Yom Kippur saddened me as I recalled anticipating the Sunday New York Times delivery with bated breath, first turning to William Safire's column "On Language." I so enjoyed his column which provided the definitive rules on grammar. Even when I posted on my blog, in the back of my mind was the question whether my writing would pass muster with the famed journalist.
The following is an excerpt from Mishegoss by William Safire, published in the New York Times over four years ago.
Every few months a query comes in about in-laws: ''What do I call my father-in-law's brother?'' The English lexicon does have that unfilled semantic space. Yiddish comes to the rescue by naming all one's relatives by marriage as machetunim, mokh-eh-TOO-nim, plural of the Hebrew mechutan, mokh-HOO-ten, which could signify your spouse's mother's second cousin. The most inclusive word is mishpocheh (mish-PAW-kheh), literally ''family,'' which lumps together just about everybody invited to the wedding.
Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/magazine/17ONLANGUAGE.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=william%20safire%20in%20law%20mechutan&st=cse
John Podhoretz wrote the following about Mr. Safire.
It is ironic that he leaves us on the eve of Yom Kippur, because he was for a very long time the host of Washington’s most exclusive annual Jewish ticket—a catered party to break the Yom Kippur fast.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/jpodhoretz/107592
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