Read “Lederer on Language” every other Saturday in the San Diego Union Tribune and on this site
On this, our nation’s birthday, I hope you’ll enjoy this fractured chronicle of American history composed entirely of certified, genuine, authentic, unretouched student fabrications. Read
Three weeks ago, California-connected American Pharoah outraced the field and the spellchecker to become the first horse in 37 years to capture the Triple Crown.
Late in the 19th century, a daydreaming British preppie named Edmund Clerihew Bentley gave the world a new form of nonsense verse. Author of the
The Old Globe Theatre began life here 80 years ago, during the 1935 California Pacific International Exhibition. Commemorating that milestone — and honoring Craig Noel,
It’s been a hundred years since the Panama-California Exposition drew 3 million visitors to a town that counted only 45,000 residents. As we celebrate the
Dear Mr. Lederer: I posted on Facebook that a pet peeve of mine is adults who use the word ain’t. I was very surprised to
Last week, I wrote about malapropisms, the misuse of words in an illiterate but humorous manner. Today I feature a special kind of malapropism.
Dear Mr. Lederer, You’re hilarious. Thanks so much for entertaining and educating us. Speaking of hilarious, one of my favorite characters is Mrs. Malaprop.
Mothers are so proud of their children, even when they’re the mothers of monsters. One monster mother said to another one, “You have the