Words, Words, Words
By CHRISTOPHER MANION Who said it first? Was it Hamlet? Or Liza Doolittle? In the 50’s my father, who headed a presidential commission for Eisenhower, found one of its members to be especially loquacious. Apparently one Hubert Humphrey, a new senator from Minnesota, had a little machine that he constantly dictated into. It was always hanging around his neck, ready to spring into action at the very first hint of a thought. “Hubert gets paid by the word,” Dad laughed. (As the youngest of a very talkative family, I thought that sounded like a pretty good idea. In retrospect, I did my honest best to earn my room and board.) In 1984 (yes, Orwell’s), Symes was assigned by the Ministry…Continue Reading