About Richard Lederer
I was the kind of child who, almost as soon as he could talk, saw a butterfly and cooed, “Oh, goody. A butterfly will flutter by.” When I grew up, I improved that spoonerism to read “A dragonfly will drink its flagon dry.” Wordstruck throughout my life, I became editor of my junior high school literary magazine and my high school newspaper.
I entered Haverford College as a pre-medical student but soon found that I was reading the chemistry books for their literary value. So I became an English major and then attended Harvard Law School, where I found that I read the law cases for their literary value. Rather than fighting my verbivorous instincts, I switched into a Masters of Arts and Teaching program at Harvard. That led to a position at St. Paul’s School, in Concord, NH, where I taught English and media for 27 wonderful years. I would have gladly served them all their days, but my earning a Ph.D. in English and Linguistics from the University of New Hampshire inspired me to start writing my books on language. The enthusiastic popular response to these books, beginning with Anguished English, inspired me to leave the St. Paul’s community to extend my mission of teachership. That’s what I do now, as a fly-by-the-roof-of-the-mouth user-friendly English teacher, Wizard of Idiom, Attila the Pun, and Conan the Grammarian.More than a million of my books have been sold, most with Pocket Books, Bantam Doubleday Dell, St. Martin’s Press, Gibbs Smith, Marion Street Press, and Waterside Productions. My books have been Book-of-the-Month Club and Literary Guild alternate selections, and my work has appeared in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, AARP, National Review, Farmers Almanac, Saturday Evening Post, and Reader’s Digest.As a San Diegan, I am button-burstingly proud to announce that my column, “Lederer on Language,” has, for more than a decade, appeared in the San Diego Union Tribune.I am a founding co-host of “A Way With Words,” which reaches hundreds of Public Radio Stations throughout our land.
I entered Haverford College as a pre-medical student but soon found that I was reading the chemistry books for their literary value. So I became an English major and then attended Harvard Law School, where I found that I read the law cases for their literary value. Rather than fighting my verbivorous instincts, I switched into a Masters of Arts and Teaching program at Harvard. That led to a position at St. Paul’s School, in Concord, NH, where I taught English and media for 27 wonderful years. I would have gladly served them all their days, but my earning a Ph.D. in English and Linguistics from the University of New Hampshire inspired me to start writing my books on language. The enthusiastic popular response to these books, beginning with Anguished English, inspired me to leave the St. Paul’s community to extend my mission of teachership. That’s what I do now, as a fly-by-the-roof-of-the-mouth user-friendly English teacher, Wizard of Idiom, Attila the Pun, and Conan the Grammarian.More than a million of my books have been sold, most with Pocket Books, Bantam Doubleday Dell, St. Martin’s Press, Gibbs Smith, Marion Street Press, and Waterside Productions. My books have been Book-of-the-Month Club and Literary Guild alternate selections, and my work has appeared in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, AARP, National Review, Farmers Almanac, Saturday Evening Post, and Reader’s Digest.As a San Diegan, I am button-burstingly proud to announce that my column, “Lederer on Language,” has, for more than a decade, appeared in the San Diego Union Tribune.I am a founding co-host of “A Way With Words,” which reaches hundreds of Public Radio Stations throughout our land.
I have been elected International Punster of the Year, and Toastmasters International has awarded me its Golden Gavel. For those organizations that need a brief biography about me for an introduction, please go to the statement I have prepared under the Public Speaking tab.