William Safire, probably the most conservative of all the NY Slimes  writers, died yesterday of pancreatic cancer.  Mr. Safire was 79.
His Slimes  obit carries the following (and I’d always wondered from whence this came; now, I know):
And from 1979 until earlier this month, he wrote “On Language,” a New York Times Magazine column that explored written and oral trends, plumbed the origins and meanings of words and phrases, and drew a devoted following, including a stable of correspondents he called his Lexicographic Irregulars.
The columns, many collected in books, made him an unofficial arbiter of usage and one of the most widely read writers on language. It also tapped into the lighter side of the dour-looking Mr. Safire: a Pickwickian quibbler who gleefully pounced on gaffes, inexactitudes, neologisms, misnomers, solecisms and perversely peccant puns, like “the president’s populism” and “the first lady’s momulism,” written during the Carter presidency.
He could’ve been one of us.  In fact, it’s probably most accurate to say he was one of us even before we  were one of us – he was a blogger even before there was such a thing as blogging.
There were columns on blogosphere blargon, tarnation-heck euphemisms, dastardly subjunctives and even Barack and Michelle Obama’s fist bumps.
And there were Safire “rules for writers”: Remember to never split an infinitive. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors. Proofread carefully to see if you words out. Avoid clichés like the plague. And don’t overuse exclamation marks!!
Actually, I tend to think he would gotten a chuckle out of OUR USE OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!11!!!!ONE!!ELEVENTEENTY!!!~1
William Safire will be greatly missed by those of us here in the Right-o-Sphere™.