Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) revived a decades-old push to establish English as the official language of the United States with the introduction on March 24 of the English Language Unity Act of 2023. If passed, the bill (pdf) would “declare English as the official language of the United States,” require all functions and proceedings of…

On June 6, 1928, 150 men gathered for a formal dinner in London’s magnificent Goldsmiths’ Hall. In this glittering assembly of intellectuals were bishops, peers of the realm, publishers, writers, and professors, including one J.R.R. Tolkien, who had not yet attained world fame as the creator of “Lord of the Rings.” In his Prologue to…

Like spices in our recipes, language can liven up our senses. In his blurb to Willard R. Espy’s “An Almanac of Words at Play,” writer and once longtime host of television’s “Masterpiece Theater” Alistair Cooke tells readers: “To Willard Espy, the English language is what football is to Joe Namath, a golf ball to Arnold…