In the 1830s, in New England, there was a craze for initialisms, in the manner of FYI, PDQ, OMG and TGIF, so popular today. The fad went so far as to generate letter combinations of intentionally comic misspellings: KG for “know go,” KY for “know yuse,” NSMJ for “’nough said ‘mong jentlemen” and OR […]
DEAR RICHARD: In the U-T Sports section, I noticed that one of the articles was headlined “Magic Talks About Kobe’s Affect on L.A., Beyond, On Eve of Memorial.” Based on what I learned in grammar school, affect is a verb, while effect is a noun, if the word is referring to “a consequence” of […]
The source of that tingly sensation you feel when you strike your arm is the knob on the end of the bone running from the shoulder to the elbow. The medical name for that bone is the humerus. Back in 1840, some clever wag seized upon the homophonic similarity of humerus and humorous and […]
The torrential response to my recent call for puns is vivid testimony to our collective need for humor. The profound act of laughter is a special blessing to us living in the long, dark shadow of contagion. The late and beloved humorist Richard Armour contends, “Comedy is as high an art as tragedy. It […]
Tomorrow kicks off National Library Week. According to a recent Gallup poll taken before the invasion of COVID-19, visiting the library remained the most common cultural activity Americans engage in, by far. The average annual 10.5 trips to the library U.S. adults reported taking in 2019 exceeds their participation in eight other common leisure […]
During these perilous and uncertain days when it can seem as if the sky is falling, I’m hoping that some pun fun may add a dollop of brightness to your life. I believe that humor makes us happy, and happiness gives us hope. Air hugs to all. Do you know why cell phones no […]
April Fools’ Day, sometimes called All Fools’ Day, is a time to play pranks on others. These tricks can be verbal, as in the examples below, or they can be physical. Plastic wrap on the toilet seat, alarm clocks set back an hour and the classic “kick me” sign affixed to a friend’s back […]
DEAR RICHARD LEDERER: I was listening to a local radio talk show host who described an unexpected event as a “curve ball from left field.” I believe that is called a mixed metaphor. It made me start wondering if that sort of thing is more common than one would think. Have you encountered this? […]
As the coronavirus wraps its tentacles around our planet and the number of infections and deaths burgeons, you might be wondering why the respiratory infection is now dubbed COVID-19. In this instance, the method of word formation is called a clipped compound. Each component of the word is shortened and strung together. CO is […]
About two weeks ago, at the age of 101, Katherine Johnson slipped the surly bonds of earth. She was a brilliant African American mathematician who calculated rocket trajectories and earth orbits for NASA’s early space missions. Ms. Johnson was later portrayed in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures,” about pioneering black female aerospace workers, who […]