An obituary typo in a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode gets Larry David in trouble when the "a" in "beloved aunt" appears in the newspaper as a "c."

Being a word freak is unusual, apparently. I suppose that's why I became a writer as a profession. I fell in love with words when I was about five years old, my mother told me. I would giggle when I learned a new word, and was reading on my own at age 5. That fascination never ended for me. I tend to forget that most people don't have such an interest.

My wife asks for help with word puzzles some times. She does those, and is also a writer. One morning, when I was reading the newspaper, she asked me, while doing a puzzle in the same paper, "What's a 9-letter word for a flightless bird." I didn't even look up. I just said "Cassowary" She just stared at me. "How did you know that?"

I explained that I had seen that word in a book about unusual animals at the age of about 10. I told her that there are only a few flightless bids on the planet and that's the only one with nine letters in its name. Her jaw dropped, but that's just how I am. Absolutely bonkers nuts about words. Has that been useful? Yes, but I have to keep remembering that most people don't know some of the words I know, and that I shouldn't use them.

"Books became my family ... . I discovered Roget's Thesaurus, which opened up glittering pools of lingo, jargon, argot, patois, officialese, idiom, and phraseology of all sorts and made me feel like a scholar, sage, savant, well-armed to scuffle, skirmish, scrap, confront, and combat any scoundrel or rapscallion. The Darwins [schoolyard bullies] knew nothing about synonyms. Billy Pedersen and I vied for supremacy in the weekly spelling bee. I read the dictionary to study spelling, which got me thinking about words. Sausage has the word 'usage' in it: this interested me. Librarian contains a bra. There is a turd in Saturday."

He was certainly a language user.

He brought "Prairie Home Companion" to San Luis Obispo, CA several years ago. My wife and I attended a fundraiser for something and there was an auction for front row seats and seats at a table with Keillor at a potluck dinner before the show. I outbid everyone for the tickets. Cost a pretty penny, too, I'll say.

Anyhow, I got to go through the potluck line behind him and sit next to him for over an hour. We had some great conversation and joked back and forth. At the show, which was broadcast live, my wife noted that she could have reached up and tied his shoelaces together. She did not do that, though.

He is a wonderful conversationalist, if you can keep up with him. A most enjoyable evening. Not too long after that, my wife and I had to move to the Twin Cities to help care for her aging parents. I've been able to converse with him a few times since then at one event or another. A gem.

Rec

Cheers!

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