A Timely Example of How Words Wander Wondrously
March 7, 2020
About two weeks ago, at the age of 101, Katherine Johnson slipped the surly bonds of earth. She was a brilliant African American mathematician
Read “Lederer on Language” every other Saturday in the San Diego Union Tribune and on this site
About two weeks ago, at the age of 101, Katherine Johnson slipped the surly bonds of earth. She was a brilliant African American mathematician
One of the best known of American poems begins: O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done; The ship has weathered every rack, the
On the night of June 21, 1932, in Madison Square Garden, Joe Jacobs, the manager for boxer Max Schmeling, heard the judges award a
Ulysses S. Grant claimed to smoke 7 to 10 cigars a day. When word got out of the president’s love of stogies, people sent him
This coming Wednesday, we celebrate the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. Anyone who has imbibed the experience of Stephen Spielberg’s eloquent film Lincoln knows how
Because language defines the human experience, we humans naturally wish to trace the act of speech back to its very beginnings. Modern linguists know
When the SDSU basketball team summited the mountain of a 20-0 record as the only undefeated team in Division I this season, U-T sports
One of the popular items that circulate through the internet is a bubble-off-plumb set of rules along the lines of “Thimk,” “We Never Make
I call apostrophe catastrophes “prepostrophes.” These crimes against civilized punctuation include house signs that read The Smith’s when they should read The Smiths or