Dear Richard Lederer: Your column on Janus-faced words, words that contain opposite meanings within themselves, got me thinking about the many inconsistencies of the English language. Take the word far being used as an adverb. How come we always have to add -ly to adjectives to make adverbs, but not in this case? “He has […]
Dear Richard Lederer: I swear this is true. A radio reporter recently announced, “Police surrounded a house and ordered out a man accused of killing a convenience store clerk with a megaphone.” No word on whether cause of death was blunt force or burst eardrums. –Garry Foster, Carlsbad Garry Foster offers a spot-on example of […]
To a foreigner, a Yankee is an American. To a southerner, a Yankee is a northerner. To a northerner, a Yankee is a New Englander. To a New Englander, a Yankee is from Vermont. And to a Vermonter, a Yankee is someone who eats apple pie for breakfast. But how did the word Yankee […]
The average person speaks at a rate of 120 to 180 words per minute. Professional newsreaders speak at around 150 wpm. Women speak an average of 7.000 to 30,000 words a day and men an average of 3,00 to 12,000 words a day. That’s because women devote more brain power to conversation, speak more […]
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 pay for dairy truck drivers in Maine didn’t come down to trucks, milk, cream, cheese, or hours. Instead, the holding hinged on the lack of a serial comma (also known […]
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 because it’s a palindrome, reading the same forward and backward. It also reads the same right side up and upside down. Topsy-turvy words like ZOONOOZ that retain their appearance turvy […]
A mondegreen is a word or words formed from a misinterpretation of what the word or words actually are, such as “take it for granite,” for “take it for granted” and “for all intensive purposes” for “for all intents and purposes.” Children are innocently brilliant at concocting original interpretations of the boundaries that separate words. […]
Donald Trump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes has done some memorable interviews during the presidential campaign, but a recent gaffe on CNN may have been the topper. While defending a Trump attack on Hillary Clinton supporters Jay Z and Beyoncé, Hughes referred to Jay Z and Kanye West’s 2012 video for “No Church in the Wild,” […]
Recently I had the great pleasure of speaking about the centennial of our San Diego Zoo to the students and teachers at the Harry M. Wegeforth Elementary School, in Serra Mesa. Named after the outreaching, farsighted founder of the zoo, the school opened its doors in 1957 and was dedicated on February 9, 1959, with […]
In this year of electile dysfunction, with just a few days left before the race for the presidency crosses the finish line, political jokes can be very powerful. That’s why so many of them get elected. Many mean things have been said about politics and politicians. Will Rogers explained, “I don’t make jokes. I just […]