Rod and I have a common and not-so-secret addiction.
That is, words. So it will not surprise you fellow travelers on Flight
Plan that this obit in the London Telegraph caught my attention. Not
just for Robert Burchfield's unrepentant and exquisite lust for
language -- but for his purity of conviction that would get him into
trouble. He battled political correctness before anyone had coined the
awful phrase. PC has damaged the freedom of language usage more than
anything --- even the California state school system. But I imagine
that is a dead heat.
Burchfield, the linguist, used language in a way that H.L. Mencken did
with journalism: fearlessly, directly and yes, compassionately. How
many reporters today recall Mencken's admonition, that the job of a
journalist is "to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted"?
Burchfield was a kiwi, I word I think he had included in the Oxford
English Dictionary. It is slang for a New Zealander. He loved Tolkien.
Ironic that because a much younger fellow kiwi, Peter Jackson -- the
brilliant director of the "Lord Of The Rings" film trilogy -- now sits
at the top of the cinema world. Words and images have always been the
hallmark of imagination.
You will discover that Burchfield once hired the terrific writer Julian
Barnes at the OED to be an expert on "sports and dirty words." Wouldn't
you love to have a gig like that? Of course, I would likely never get
around to the sports stuff.
Burchfield described language as "a monster accordion." Probably the
greatest tribute to the accordion that's ever been uttered.
He wasn't beyond going to court over copyright matters -- even taking
on Weight Watchers for the right to use the term.
Let's face it: no one knew the weight of words than Robert Burchfield.
He watched them better than anyone. He was always paying attention.
This is a life truly well-lived.
Bruce Bellingham, San Francisco
bellsf@mac.com
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