This is my 300th installment of “Lederer on Language,” which began life in this space on May 12, 2012. As one frog said to the other, “Time’s fun when you’re having flies!” Let’s have some flies today. Dear Mr. Lederer: I was wondering if you had thoughts on why ruthless is a common word […]
Last week in this space we toured a row of eloquent epitaphs. Although you may find the humor a bit grave and the plots too deep, I am pleased to unveil some of the English-speaking world’s funniest epitaphs. Let’s start our expedition with epitaphs that demonstrate how some folk take their jobs with them […]
Last week in this space I presented some deathless prose — my favorite famous last words that, undimmed by time, strike us as especially humorous or noble. But the exit lines that we utter from our deathbed are not necessarily our last words to the world. Our final message can be the epitaph (from […]
DEAR MR. LEDERER: I’m fascinated by the famous last words that people say. What are your favorites? -Bob Hermann, Rancho Santa Fe As William Shakespeare noted in his tragedy “Hamlet,” “All that lives must die passing through nature to eternity,” where we enter “the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.” As they […]
Nobody gets fired anymore. Nowadays, when people lose their jobs, they are “reclassified,” “rightsized,” “deselected,” “outplaced,” “nonpositively terminated” or any other of dozens of euphemistic verbs that really mean axed, canned, sacked or given the heave-ho. In the continuing search for newer, softer and more ambiguous verbs with which to administer the final blow […]
Language is like the air we breathe. It’s invisible, inescapable, and indispensable, and we take it for granted. But when we take the time to step back and listen to the sounds that escape from the holes in people’s faces and to explore the paradoxes and vagaries of English, we find that hot dogs […]
Thanksgiving is a delicious time of year to nibble on a spicy, meaty, juicy honey of a topic that I know you’ll savor and relish. Feast your eyes on the veritable banquet of mushrooming food expressions that grace the table of our English language and season our tongue. As we chew the fat about […]
The Festival of Books, held this past August in Liberty Station, celebrated both literature and literacy. One of the most astonishing stories of acquiring literacy is the life of George Dawson. He was born in Marshall, Texas, in 1898 as the first of five children, a farmer’s son and grandson and great-grandson of African American […]
Falling on October 31, Halloween is the year’s spookiest holiday. On that day we carve faces in pumpkins, dress in horrible costumes and go out trick or treating. The traditions associated with modern-day Halloween find their roots in ancient Ireland, in the fifth century B.C. October 31 signaled the end of the Celtic year and […]
Many of us attend conferences, parties and other gatherings where we are asked to wear name tags that say, “Hello, I’m _____.” Here’s a punderful game that takes those badges to the limit. The object is to match a real first name with a real job to spark a punny connection, as in “My […]