Haberdashery - Words & Language

I have not been feeling well this week, so spent much time catching-up on my reading. Of course I read all the obituaries for William Safire who passed away on Sunday. While I might not identify with his politics, I always enjoyed his "On Language" columns in the New York Times. So I've started re-reading all of them — join me!

Singapore had its own language columnist - Janadas Devan. I am a big fan of his writing and miss reading his "On Words" columns in Singapore's Straits Times. I wish he would resume writing them and I wish Straits Times would have the complete archive of all his columns online, instead of only selected ones.

Another talented writer in Singapore is Alfian Sa'at. He now has a regular spot on the onlinecitizen and sometimes he dabbles about language. Try this one about Malay and Hokkien.

I enjoy the weekly Sunday Puzzles on NPR - their word puzzles are so imaginative. I have never entered in any of the contests — they are difficult! But maybe I will give the next one a try.

Shall we end on a bit of gossip? Lord Byron called William Wordsworth "Turdsworth" in a letter!

George Orwell's Blog

Did you know that George Orwell has a blog?

Previously unreleased entries of his diaries beginning 9th August, 1938 are being published - starting 9th August 2008 - on the blog. Each post corresponds to an entry in his diary and the diaries end in 1942. There is much talk of the war of course, but he also details his time in his vegetable garden - tomatoes, peas, raspberries, apples and potatoes - and, raising hens for eggs. A writer who gets his hands dirty in the soil - what's not to love?

(but if Chaucer is more your thing, you can check out his blog here.)

Haberdashery - Obituaries

In my collection of obituaries, my favorite is the one Christopher Hitchens wrote about Edward Said. Why can't all obits be like it instead of the staid, list-like articles?

Perhaps it's because the Brits and Americans write their obituaries differently and I am reading the wrong publications for my obituary-fix.

Good read of obituaries from a now-defunct quarterly magazine - Good Bye! I like the one of Stephen Jay Gould - I've read all his books and didn't even know he had passed.

A collection of obituaries by McG is on my Amazon wishlist.

I'd love, love to attend a Great Obituary Writers' Conference. Especially after reading an article of what goes on during the conference, for example, a discussion of "How many ways can one say 'died'?".