Read “Lederer on Language” every other Saturday in the San Diego Union Tribune and on this site
Questions about punctuation, pickleball, and pennies
Ben Duke, of Philadelphia, has sent me a photograph of the front of a store in Brierly Hall, England. The sign reads: Goodwyns Furniture Ltd.
There are so many creative ways to say, “You’re fired!”
These days, we hear and read a lot about battalions of government workers getting fired. The meaning of “fired” (“to discharge someone from a job”)
Words of a feather flock together in our fowl language
DEAR RICHARD: Thank you for giving me the bird in your recent column about our feathered friends. I just wish I could be your wing
At the San Diego Bird Festival, the bird is the word
The 2025 San Diego Bird Festival took wing on February 25 and will return to earth tomorrow, March 2. The annual Festival includes 150 programs
Exploring the fascinating patterns of our U.S. presidents
This coming Monday we celebrate Presidents’ Day, which honors the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, both born in February. On Presidents’ Day we
What’s in a president’s name? More than you might think
Ulysses S. Grant, our 18th president, entered the earthly stage as Hiram Ulysses Grant. When his name was mistakenly entered on the West Point register
Student bloopers win a lot of Pullet Surprises
One of the fringe benefits of being an English or History teacher is receiving the occasional jewel of a student blooper in an essay. The
Happy New Year! It’s nice to have You Near!
Calendars were first made so that people could predict recurring events, such as planting and harvest times. In 45 BC, Julius Caesar ordered that the
Let’s all celebrate the true meanings of Christmas
The great English etymologist Owen Barfield once wrote, “Words may be made to disgorge the past that is bottled up inside of them, as coal