Charles Harrington Elster
Charles Harrington Elster | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 14, 1957 Queens, NY |
| Died | March 1, 2023 (aged 65) San Diego, CA |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, broadcaster |
Charles Harrington Elster (born 1957, New York City)[1] was an American writer, broadcaster, and logophile. In 1998, he was one of two original co-hosts of the national weekly public radio show A Way with Words, which he resigned from in 2004 after a dispute with management.[2]
Elster was the author of numerous books about language, including the adult vocabulary-building programs Word Workout and Verbal Advantage; the high school vocabulary-building novels Tooth and Nail: A Novel Approach to the SAT and Test of Time: A Novel Approach to the SAT and ACT; The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations, which the late William Safire of The New York Times called "the most readable, sensible, and prescriptive guide to the words that trip us up"; The Accidents of Style: Good Advice on How Not to Write Badly; There's a Word for It, a lighthearted guide to unusual but unusually useful words; What in the Word? Wordplay, Word Lore, and Answers to Your Peskiest Questions About Language; and How to Tell Fate from Destiny, and Other Skillful Word Distinctions.
Elster was a consultant for Garner's Modern English Usage and he was the pronunciation editor of Black's Law Dictionary. His articles appeared in the Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, Copyediting, Verbatim, and other publications. He was also a voice talent with more than 25 years' experience recording educational material, industrials, and books—including his own Verbal Advantage, Word Workout, and How to Tell Fate from Destiny.
References
- ^ "Charles Harrington Elster, San Diego word maven and author, dies at 65". San Diego Union-Tribune. 2023-03-04. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
- ^ "About A Way with Words". A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
