[OT] Death of an outstanding wordsmith

[Melissa Nelson]

I was not a fan of Buckley's politics at all...but boy did I admire the way he expressed it in words! I believe he died while at his desk writing, which is the way I would like to go in 40 or 50 years. 
 
Melissa



> Subject: RE: [OT] Death of an outstanding wordsmith> Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:14:39 -0700> From: richard.combs at Polycom.com> To: jingting at rogers.com; techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com> > Yves JEAUROND wrote:> > > William F. Buckley, 1925-2008, passed away, February 27.> > > > > > Though he did not speak often of technical writing, his > > last column for the National Review, injects talk about > > Fowler's "popularized technicalities" into commentary about a > > debate between Obama and Clinton. What a fitting end piece > > for a fan of the English language, articulate speech and > > voluptuous prose. > > Thanks, Yves! That URL ended up with some spaces in it. Here's a TinyURL> link to that column: > > http://tinyurl.com/23enef> > Buckley was a big fan of Fowler: "My reluctance to quote at such length> from the great Fowler is mitigated by my serious wish that students of> the English language would themselves take the initiative of> familiarizing themselves with the profundities and niceties of the> points being made by Mr. Fowler."> > I wasn't a big fan of Bill Buckley, but did admire his erudition and> humor. Here are a couple of quotes I particularly like, the first> demonstrating that he wasn't the snobbish elitist he sometimes appeared> to be: > > "I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand> names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by> the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University."> > "World War is the second worst activity of mankind, the worst being> acquiescence in slavery."> > Richard> > > ------> Richard G. Combs> Senior Technical Writer> Polycom, Inc.> richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom> 303-223-5111> ------> rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom> 303-777-0436> ------> > > > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> > Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or > printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 > Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.> http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList> > True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.> Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical> documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com> > ---> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as melmis36 at hotmail.com.> > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > techwr-l-unsubscribe at lists.techwr-l.com> or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/melmis36%40hotmail.com> > > To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join at lists.techwr-l.com> > Send administrative questions to admin at techwr-l.com. Visit> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.>