William Safire

William L. Safire (born December 17, 1929) writes syndicated op-ed pieces, generally with a conservative viewpoint. Since 1979, he has written "On Language," a weekly column in the New York Times Magazine covering grammar, etymology, new or unusual usages, and other language-related topics.

In 1978, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary.

Before he became a journalist, Safire was a speechwriter for Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew; he wrote Agnew's phrase "nattering nabobs of negativism."