DEAR RICHARD: The word buck has nine different definitions as presented in dictionary.com. This set me to wondering “Is there a definition of words with many definitions? What words in the English language are like this? Which has the most? How does this happen to begin with?” –Michael Stewart, Scripps Ranch

If you need a fancy term for multiple meanings of a word, it’s polysemy, from the Greek poly, “many,” as in polygamy, and sem,“signification, meaning,” as in semantic. Polysemy is common for nouns, verbs, and modifiers because there are more objects and ideas in the world than there are words for them, so many words have to do double (or more) duty.

Take the plain, little word run. Turns out it’s actually our longest word, in the sense that with 645 — you read that right: 645! — meanings, run takes up more room in our fattest dictionaries than any other word. How many meanings can run have beyond “to move rapidly on alternate feet”? Well, you can run a company, run for the school board, run the motor of your car, run a flag up a pole, run up your debts, run your stocking, run your mouth, run a fence around a property, run an idea past a colleague, run the numbers, run an antagonist through with your sword, run an ad in a newspaper, run into a childhood friend, never run out of meanings for run — and your nose can run and your feet can smell. 

Run takes up half again as much space as its nearest polysemous competitor, put, which itself is far more polysemous than the third word in this category, set. So the three “longest” words enshrined in our dictionaries are each composed of three letters.

Rounding out the top ten most polysemous words, each but a single syllable are, alphabetically, cast, cut, draw, point, serve, strike, and through. 

DEAR RICHARD: Why are words like pants, slacks, and trousers plural?  Does one leg of the garment count as a pant, slack, or trouser? –Tracy Fox, Del Cerro

I too have noticed the illogic of pluralizing words like pants, slacks, and trousers but casting the likes of blouse, bra, and shirt as singulars. Why? Because language is created by human beings so, like human beings, language can be illogical.

DEAR RICHARD: Someone pointed out to me that the word swims upside-down is still swims. I said to myself, “Richard Lederer probably has a list of them.” -Ted Tepstra, Bay Park

These phenomena are called ambigrams (“both writing”). As fate would have it, my fevered brain has compiled such a list: SWIMS (which must be capitalized to qualify), dollop, solos, suns, pod, mow, SOS, SIS, and NOON. ZOONOOZ, until recently the name of our Zoological Society’s magazine, is an outstanding example.

Then there are words that, when turned topsy turvy, transmogrify into other words, such as mom / wow!

DEAR RICHARD: Was texting with our son in Edinburgh and the subject of desserts came up. I replied with the following: Desserts is STRESSED spelled backwards. That’s how I know I am not eating desert. What is at play there? I thought it was funny. -Thom Somes, Carlsbad

The letter play you refer to usually comes in the form of “when you feel STRESSED, eat DESSERTS.” STRESSED/ DESSERTS is a palindrome — a statement that reads the same backwards and forwards, such as TACO CAT. Fyi, “just deserts” is spelled correctly because it means “what you justly deserve.”

DEAR RICHARD: Two observations to quibble about in today’s U-T:  An article on local page 2 regarding a jury award quotes the victim as speaking about “the ringer they ran me through.”  I’m guessing the young reporter has never seen a clothes wringer. In the sports section, an important front page article refers to “this new criteria.”  It seems criterion/criteria is going down the same road as datum/data, with the singular disappearing and the plural being turned into a singular.  –Bill Pease, Ranch Bernardo

I’m totally with you, brother. Classical words, such as agenda, opera, and data, have morphed from plural to singular. But the singular forms of criteria, phenomena, and theses remain as criterion, phenomenon, and thesis.

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Alert for all you Star Wars fans: A week from today, on May 4, we will shout, “May The Fourth Be With You!”

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On Thursday, May 9, starting at 10 am, I’ll be performing “The Gift of Age” at Rancho Bernardo OASIS, 17170 Bernardo Center Drive. For information, call 619 881 6262.