Edge Message #19 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM

TO NZEDGE.COM COMMUNITY

Greetings on this last day of the half year. Voyeurs will enjoy the 60 new messages in the Mailbox. Thank you everyone for writing and expressing your views and affirmations. Very cool. We have also placed at the bottom of the mailbox a selection of general comments from our recent survey (in which the site scored 8 out of 10 in satisfaction).

Today’s Heroes are linguists; two people from the edge who have contributed hugely to their different fields. Harold Williams is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s greatest linguist. He was a pivotal observer of the Russian Revolution and became foreign editor of The Times. This is another of the ‘read-it -to-believe-it’ stories of a New Zealander most people will not have heard of.

Coupled with Harold Williams is the story of Robert Burchfield, ex of Wanganui, a world-renowned scholar and hailed in the Chicago Tribune as “the greatest living lexicographer”. A student of Tolkein’s and chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionaries between 1971 and 1984. Yowee! Kiwis go places alright.

Pitch of the week: Nzedger Kate Wilson, a patent attorney, has led a project in her law firm James & Wells to produce a highly useful book “The Inventor’s Guide to Success.” It’s thorough, stimulating and imaginatively put together. The book is well endorsed and got a great review in the Herald last week.

We’ll be changing out publishing schedule next week, we know we’ve been cutting it too close to wind late on a Friday afternoon NZ time, so from next week we’ll go on a Thursday.

Cheers,

Brian Sweeney
executive editor
brian@nzedge.com

Thumbnail: South Island’s West Coast. “The other one contributing factor is just the archipelago itself. We’re a strange set of islands, and it doesn’t take long for people to be molded into being New Zealanders…” Keri Hulme. Photo: Ryl Jensen.