Read “Lederer on Language” every other Saturday in the San Diego Union Tribune and on this site
You Can Read Your Way to a More Powerful Vocabulary
When you were a child learning to speak, you seized each word as if it were a shiny toy. This is how you learned
Our Abounding English Language Brims with Synonyms
I’m kicking off 2022 with a three-part series on enriching your vocabulary and, as a result, your ability to communicate. In the process of
Union-Tribune Readers Go Out on a Limerick
Two weeks ago, I challenged my U-T readers to wing me limericks with a Christmas theme. To avoid being blown away by a tsunami
Be Advised: Don’t Dangle Your Participles in Public
DEAR RICHARD: Plucked from a recent headline in the Union-Tribune: “Rare corpse flower is set to bloom again / Despite smelling like rotting flesh,
Commemorating the First Thanksgiving Dinner
Four centuries ago, the roots of Thanksgiving first took hold in our American soil. We living today commemorate the solemn dinner, back in the
Let’s Harvest a Pumpkin Patch of Halloween Fun
The Irish tell a story about a notorious drunkard and trickster named Jack. He couldn’t enter heaven because he was a miser, and he
Today is a perfect time to think about dictionaries
Today is National Dictionary Day, traditionally celebrated on the birthday of Noah Webster (1758-1843), who, in 1806, gifted our young nation with his Compendious
My proverbs column has inspired more proverbs
When I was a callow youth, my neighborhood buddies and I used to sing a learned lyric that played around with levels of diction:
Do you ever wonder how wise is proverbial wisdom?
DEAR RICHARD: I grew up on a steady diet of proverbs. They aren’t heard as often nowadays, but they bring back memories of simpler times.