European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 03, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The Paramount question William Safire on language he approaching death of Deng Xiaoping the Paramount Leader that s How Patrick e. Tyler Beijing correspondent of the new York times like just about everybody else suiting about the Nona Genaria communist identifies the Man who abandoned his title but not his Power. Fox butter Field of the. New York times writing in 1980 from what was then transliterated As peking May have been the first to choose Paramount Over Foremost or pre eminent in identifying Deng the adjective stuck becoming a bogus title in itself. It s an old French word be chef Seigneur Par amont a first cited in 1339 picked up in English As the lord Paramount or King to whom other lords Sucre vassals. Abraham Lincoln used the word in its adjectival function in 1862 when replying to the new York 1 Tiburc editor Horace Grec Lcy s Long editorial Cle manding emancipation of the slaves. My Paramount object in this struggle wrote Lincoln 7s to save the Union and is not either to save or to destroy slavery notwithstanding his Oft expressed Perso a wish that All men everywhere could be  italics signify Lin Coln s underlining the one volume biography of Lincoln for this generation will be David Herbert Don Ald a coming this fall from Simon & schuster. Long awaited is the cliche beloved by blur bars in the Case of Donald s Lincoln it s True those of is who have written about Rotari citation in detail have Long puzzled Over Lin Coln s widely publicized letter answering Gracley s prayer of Twenty millions because Lincoln seemed to argue that freeing the slaves was not his purpose at a time he had a draft of the emancipation proclamation in his pocket awaiting a Union Mili tary Victory the president s answer to or Cilcy seems deliberately deceptive. Donald interprets this seeming misdirection As a step taken to prepare Northern Public opinion for the drastic move. Like most republicans he writes he had Long held the belief that if slavery could be contained it would inevitably die. For Deng Xiaoping the Paramount or perhaps Foremost or preeminent Leader of China. This reason saving the Union was his Paramount object " the historian suggests evidence for that is in the word Paramount but readers aware that Lincoln always chose his words carefully should have recognized that Paramount meant Foremost or principal not sole " new York tiros it s a Long winding Road in a Yuppie truck Tony Kornheiser o i m7 at a dinner party the other , a. Casual thing among friends and the Host the thoroughly suburban cd e not his real initial announces he is buying a truck. Mouths open. A what. " a truck a says. Everybody looks at e. He s never seemed to be the truck Type he is wearing a Cashmere sweater and velour shoes. And if his eyes were any worse he d be a hat. Nobody can imagine e at a truck Stop except As a hostage. A truck like to haul pipe no e says. A Small truck a 4-Whcci-drive truck. Of a Yuppie truck. A Cross Between a big jeep and a Lincoln town car All the big feet corporate lawyers have them it helps them pretend they Haven t sold out. A Hadaya Gonna do with it drive Over to the cappuccino bar und hang out with the Range rovers he s having a midlife crisis someone tells e s wife h her real initial11 shrugs. Cheaper than a mistress she says. Not really someone says. It Only gets three Miles to the gallon. Well ii says cheaper than a divorce/1 How you Gonna put it in 4-Whccl drive someone asks a when you can t even go to the self serve pump without bringing a change of clothes what arc a nuts a Hadaya need a 4-Whcel drive for you live five Miles from Washington . The government May be going on the wrong Road but it s a paved Road. Suppose i want to go Hunting and  e  and Karen their real names i m not making fun of them what do they care Are laugh ing hysterically. Since when do you Hunt and fish what Are you Natty bump you get squeamish holding a can of tuna.,we look at one another. None of us can imagine e Hunting. How s he. Gonna fire a gun he can t even. Get the Cork out of a wine bottle. Who s Gonna give you a Hunting License with your eyesight Karen wants to know. At 20 Yards you can t Tell the difference Between a Deer and the Suez canal you la end up shooting cows i try to picture e driving Down 1-95 with a cow strapped across the Hood and a cop stops him and says what Ryou going after next a Caddye a per due oven stuffer. ,. Docs it really come with a gun rack somebody no h says. It s a. Yuppie truck. It comes with a brie knife.". \ e starts ticking off the features tinted Glass. Power windows. Reclining leather scats. Sun roof. Cd system. What s it called someone asks. It s a Blazer Lake Tahoe e says. A Lake Tahoe they re naming trucks after re sorts what s next a c Hevy club med Why would you do this he wants to go to Vermont and see the leaves turn h says. And he can t take a bus there arc leaves around the Corner. You can walk. Haven t you Ever wanted to go Fly fishing e asks. We looked at him As if he were a Penguin. Fly fishing you Don t know anything about fishing someone says. You la go to cast and you la Hook the Back of your neck and bleed to death in the Stream. Hell never get to the Stream someone else says. I be. Has no idea How much Power these things have. Talk about going off Toad the first time e turns on the engine hell crash through his garage and demolish his House. Worse than that hell slip a disc just climbing into the cab. This in t you marry tells e. You re not an out doors Guy. You gotta buy waders to go fishing. What Daya know about waders you hear wader you think you re ordering  truck will be fun a says. _ fun what fun the part where you break Down on the Road and some Bubba come Over and say,."pretty far from 1600 Pennsylvania aye., Ain t you Hoss Haven you Cvar seen Deli Crancel Well go skiing a says \  t i Don t want to go skiing h says come on. Well take a vacation and go skiing e says. With a truck like this we can go  i want to go to the Bahamas h says. -,." you re having a midlife crisis we Tell e. You la get a tool Belt and a Chain sup Kuhe next time any of us sees you you la be living in a tree House not a Chance h says he s afraid of Heights. To just sitting in the front seat of the truck will be enough to kill him.". That was two weeks ago. E has since bought the truck. He never carries anything in it because the trunk is exposed and he s afraid to leave it unattended. And on the first Day he drove it to work his ignition key was stolen from the company garage. So now he keeps the truck at Home afraid that if he brings it to work it will be stolen. Another Happy ending. Tony Kornheiser is on vacation. This column was previously published ing Gibber 1992.creators Syndicate inc. Pace 21 sunday Ber 3, 1995