| The New York Times Magazine 1996 WIlliam Safire |
| Title | Subject | Authors |
|---|
| As we know it.(use of the phrase 'as we know it')(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Been there, done that: in the vocabulary of world weariness, the phrase has surpassed same-o, same-o.(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Bridge to past tense.(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Congenital, liar, punch: would pathological prevaricator have been more on the nose?(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Downsized: sacked, canned and axed are more vivid, not to mention more efficient. (includes a discussion on the sound 'duh')(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Facially valid: to hyphenate or not: you can't have it both ways without being two-faced. (hyphenated words, also includes a discussion of boontling, a jargon of Boonville, CA)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Fuhgeddaboutit: talking like a New Yorker is not the same as talking like a Noo Yawker.(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Half in love with 'full frontal'. (includes commentary about other terms and phrases)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Hissy fits and golden oldies: Madonna can have (or give or pitch) one, but her song isn't an example of the other one.(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| 'I led the pigeon to the flag.' (On Language: adapted from a column written May 27, 1979)(A Celebration of One Hundred Years)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Just driving by: from the random and violent to the random and casual. (a discussion of the terms, drive-by, blow a hole, and scheme versus plan)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Let a simile be your umbrella. (roots of the terms; anomaly, shenanigans, plunk, arcane, knickknack, includes discussion on how many Inuit terms for snow)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Maneuvering with Heimlich. (also: popularity of racial terms, and word usage of heather and anorak)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Many icons, few iconoclasts: Marilyn Monroe rates, the newest Mrs. Kennedy does not (yet). (several meanings of the word icon; also a discussion of the term 'going negative')(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| May day! Might day!(auxiliary verbs 'may' and 'might' are not interchangeable) | | William Safire |
| Mulling over 'mull;' ponder was working too hard, and there was no room for ruminate.(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Neck that down: the general zeros in, but the nubile maiden is out of range. (military terminology of Gen. John M. Shalikashvili; also notes on the term jerry-built)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Of galoots and flaps: Caper? Affair? Scandal? Choose one while looking through the files. (Clinton White House Filegate terminology)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Of hacks and TK: tell the suits a mushroom is no wafflebottom. (a glossary of journalists' jargon in found in Christopher S. Wren's new novel, 'Hacks')(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Of mainstreams and movements.(Column) | | William Safire |
| Pass the password: gaining access via battleship, or Bernese mountain dog.(Column) | | William Safire |
| Philadelphia lawyers: if you think the expression hasn't become an insult, sue me.(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Please pass the plural pease: there's no disagreement, when verbs count, one and one does not always equal two. (irregular forms of the plural in English, also the meaning of the term 'hardscrabble')(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Poetic allusion watch (PAW). (examining literary references in daily expressions)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Presumptives and presumptions: apparent would be more logical but when has usage had anything to do with logic?(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Punmeister: a compundium sure to produce moans in two languages.(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Quo lingua: we will still borrow words from everywhere, and still forget to return them. (On Language)(The Next 100 Years)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Soccer moms: as they go, so goes the election. If they're not too tired to vote. (includes a discussion of the terms louche and puerile used by the Sunday Times of London to describe Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Squish-squash, chinky chose. (written and oral variation on onomatopoeic words, includes finding out how the meaning of a children's rhyme is an ethnic slur)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Stakeholders naff? I'm chuffed: from the mouths of Brits: a grubby Americanism and 'not very tasteful' slang.(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Take the DARE: what kind of jerk still says doofus? (authoritative Dictionary of American Regional English)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| The coinage game: neologic nellies: one person's neologism is often another person's trademark.(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| The hard way: a contender makes his point, with some help. (finding root of a Bob Dole term, 'the hard way,' also a look at the meaning of 'gazillion')(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| The hunting of the grouse: now in season, the language of complaint, and a word that's akin to grouch.(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| The most optimistic man: Pangloss, meet Pollyanna. Jack Kemp, take your pick. (eponymy, coining words from proper names is often found in political wording)(On Laguage)(Column) | | William Safire |
| The new Fowler's: a book of moorings for an age adrift among archipelagos. (Fowler's Modern English Usage and rules for plurals, also terms derived from independent counsel Kenneth Starr's last name)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| The new Gulag: a recent breakout from Chinese labor camps. (Chinese word to describe slave labor)(includes related information on books as gifts and Attorney General Janet Reno)(Column) | | William Safire |
| The political who.(usage of 'who' and 'whom')(includes information on bilingual puns and the derivation of 'bunf')(Column) | | William Safire |
| The spinner spun: too much English sends pitchers and linguists to the showers.(On Language)(Column) | | WIlliam Safire |
| Too close to call: a running mate of dead heat, squeaker and photo finish.(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Two B's in a bomber: this is the question, why do you need the second silent B? Blame the Latin bombus. (includes the roots of the Arabic terms, fatwa, Hamas, Hezbollah, taqiya, haram, halal, and Splaj)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| What's an extremist? (includes a discussion of the political usage of the terms 'vacuum' and 'vulgar')(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Wordplay: from the Bible to Shakespeare to the White House, pundits abound, sometimes stealthily. (puns)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
| Worth a thousand words: ancient Chinese proverb? Japanese? No. Just the philosophy of a guy named Fred. (Fred R. Barnard was originator of quote; also discusses root of term riff)(On Language)(Column) | | William Safire |
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