In the previous edition of this column, I shared with you a number of pirate riddles and jokes, such as “Where does a pirate go to buy his hook? The second-hand store” and Why are pirate kids so annoying on car trips? They keep asking, “Aaaar we there yet?” As a follow-up, I share, in […]
An old American folk rhyme chuckles: Where can a man find a cap for his knee, Or a key for a lock of his hair? Can his two eyes be called an academy Because there are pupils in there? In the crown of his head, what gems are set? Who travels the bridge of his […]
Next week, Comic-Con returns to San Diego, where, back in August 1970, it began life as the Golden State Comic Book Convention in the basement of the U.S. Grant Hotel. That first event drew about a hundred attendees. San Diego Comic-Con has become the largest gathering of comics and pop culture enthusiasts in the world. […]
I am a freelance writer of magazine and newspaper columns and articles. That means that I write these pieces on a fee-paid assignment basis rather than on a regular-salary-with-benefits arrangement with a single employer. Most medieval knights were committed to a feudal lord, but those who weren’t could hire themselves and their lances to anyone […]
DEAR RICHARD: I have a difficult time when people say, “I’m outa here” when they are still right here. If they were truly “outa here,” they would be somewhere else and would not be able to speak in the present tense. It makes no sense to talk to people about the correct tense, because, what the […]
Ben Duke, of Philadelphia, has sent me a photograph of the front of a store in Brierly Hall, England. The sign reads: Goodwyns Furniture Ltd. SOFA’S CHAIR’S RECLINER’S BED’S Ben calls this signage “The Four Aprostrophe’s of the Apocalypse” and informs me that “the establishment is now permanently closed, so punctuation matters!” I call such […]
These days, we hear and read a lot about battalions of government workers getting fired. The meaning of “fired” (“to discharge someone from a job”) is an extension of applying fire to gunpowder or burning down someone’s house. “Fired” is such a mind-powdering and soul-searing word. What we need are softer, more clever verbs with […]
I’m button-burstingly proud to announce that you’re reading my 500th column in the Union Tribune. Inspired by this milestone (never a millstone), I celebrate our glorious, uproarious, victorious, stupendous, tremendous, end-over-endous English language. In the year 1599, the poet and historian Samuel Daniel sang of the English language that was coming to full flower during […]
DEAR RICHARD LEDERER: I was gobsmacked (a fun word too) to hear for the first time the word bafflegab, which means exactly what it sounds like. Unfortunately, there’s so much of it these days. –Cindy Veinot, Chicago Bafflegab, which entered American English in 1952, does indeed mean “unintelligible jargon.” Words that describe words that […]
DEAR RICHARD: While doing Civil War research, I often read affidavits regarding pension applications made in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A soldier supporting another soldier’s application might say they were “intimate in the military.” While the writer obviously meant “close friends,” the same comment today might imply a sexual relationship. For most of […]