Word: semanticists
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...making English the "official" language. Many saw the vote as a sign of xenophobia. Larry Berg, a professor of political science at the University of Southern California, describes the vote as reflecting "no-nothing, nativist resentment toward this massive influx of people." But former Senator S.I. Hayakawa, a formidable semanticist who led the crusade, promised it was not meant to homogenize Californian life. * "If you want to host at your home a prayer meeting or a crap game in Serbo-Croatian or Greek or Swahili, there will be no linguistic gestapo to come break up your game...
Svetlana's hostility was viewed a shade differently by her new brother-in- law, S.I. Hayakawa, who is married to Wes Peters' sister. "She and Mrs. Wright were like two empresses in the same empire," the semanticist and former U.S. Senator recollects. Overpowered, Svetlana tried to persuade Peters to leave Taliesin West, where he had worked since 1932 as Wright's disciple and chosen successor. Peters temporized, and after 20 months of marriage, Svetlana stormed out, cursing Mrs. Wright and all that she represented with a wrath that recalled Stalin's. Taliesin West, "with all its horrible modern architecture," Svetlana...
...received a call from some of the Senate leaders, who were closeted with Senator S.I. Hayakawa. I knew he was listening when they asked me if I needed to meet occasionally with the California semanticist to get his advice on African affairs. I gulped, thought for a few seconds and replied, "Yes, I really do!" hoping God would forgive...
...year: used just so, in all but sweats with class bias. The emotion-heavy words that are easiest to spot are epithets and endearments: blockhead, scumbum, heel, sweetheart, darling, great human being and the like. All such terms are so full of prejudice and sentiment that S.I. Hayakawa, a semanticist before he became California's U.S. Senator, calls them "snarl-words and purr-words...
...beats jogging," insists Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa, the tam-o'-shantered semanticist and college president turned junior Senator from California. That is why Hayakawa, 73, takes regular tap lessons, frequently practicing his steps before a mirror to make certain his buck-and-wings are smooth. Back home or in Washington, the Senator works out to the strains of such golden oldies as Sentimental Journey and A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody. Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly he is not. But, then, what do Fred and Gene know about marking up Senate bills or pursuing points of order...