No More Straw Houses for the Greatest Show on Earth
May 20, 2017
Once upon a time, when the sky was made of canvas and the ground was made of sawdust, elephants in tutus danced on their
Read “Lederer on Language” every other Saturday in the San Diego Union Tribune and on this site
Once upon a time, when the sky was made of canvas and the ground was made of sawdust, elephants in tutus danced on their
Throughout the 1920s, in an era of mah-jongg, goldfish swallowing and bicycle racing, solving crosswords became the biggest puzzle craze ever. In 1924, The New
It’s now been five years that I’ve had the surpassing privilege of sharing “Lederer on Language” with you in this space. My weekly adventure
Many words possess two kinds of meaning. The basic, direct meaning we call denotation. The implied, suggestive meanings are connotations. Connotations are what give a
Dear Richard Lederer: Would you please write a column about the use and misuse of the word fulsome? A recent story from the Washington Post,
Brush up your Shakespeare. Start quoting him now. Brush up your Shakespeare, And the women you will wow. – Cole Porter, “Kiss Me, Kate” Name
Just about everyone has seen the blue street signs with the big white H and an arrow pointing the way to the nearest hospital. Now
April is national poetry month, so I will tell you a story that starts out long ago, perhaps 140 million years in the past, and
This past Sunday, the U-T ran a report headlined LACK OF COMMA COSTS COMPANY MILLIONS IN DISPUTE. The outcome of the class-action lawsuit about overtime