Read “Lederer on Language” every other Saturday in the San Diego Union Tribune and on this site
Fifth-year Confessions of an Unrepentant Verbivore
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
Highly Irregular Verbs Can Teach Us A Lot About Meaning
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
Confusable Words Build a Sky-high Tower of Babble
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,
Here’s a Pop Quiz to Brush Up Your Shakespeare
Brush up your Shakespeare. Start quoting him now. Brush up your Shakespeare, And the women you will wow. – Cole Porter, “Kiss Me, Kate” Name
Libraries are as Important to Our Health as Hospitals
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
Ask Yourself If There Is A Poem Hiding In Your Soul
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
Comma Sense Dictates That You Use The Serial Comma
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
It Really is a Crime the Way That Some People Spell
This Thursday, the Union-Tribune will hold its annual countywide spelling bee. On the model of the collectively busy bee, we call these events spelling
ZOONOOZ is the Perfect Title for Our Zoo Magazine
Since January 1926, the award-winning magazine published by the San Diego Zoological Society has been titled ZOONOOZ. It’s a bedazzling, beguiling and bewitching name