Yesterday we lost, in the words of "Elizabeth Kelly", one of my co-Content Producers over at Associated Content a cunning linguist. George Carlin had been enamored with word since he was a child. As he explained it in one of the last interviews he did on 20/20, his mother instilled his love of words. His mother would send him to get her a paper each day and when he returned, she would introduce a word to him. The first word he remembered learning was peruse. He came in with the paper and she said she was going to peruse it. He didn't know what that meant so she sent him off to check the dictionary. the next day, he broought the paper and used the word he learned. Something along the lines of 'here's the paper for you to peruse." His mother then said, 'thank you, I think I will take a cursory glance and off he went to check under the c for cursory and so it went.
The love of words is a love I share with George Carlin and I was always fascinated by his comedy routines, not just because of the humor but because of his grasp of the language and his use of it to speak the truth despite the consequences. The first book I ever owned was a small wire binder of dictionary pages and I remember fondly finding 'pitome'in the dictionary. This started a love affair for me with words.
Mr. Carlin you will be missed.
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