During his talk, the author alluded to the debate over "political correctness."

"Language certainly influences our thoughts and images," he said in an interview after the speech. "There is no reason to use the sexist pronoun, but it can be taken to the extreme."

For instance, he said he would use "chair" for the head of a department, and "people" rather than "men," but thinks that "man" is acceptable to use as a term for humanity.

Referring throughout the talk to his own works, which deal with subjects ranging from the history of English to varieties of puns, the author said the usually answers the question, "Where do you get your ideas from?" with the question, "Where does the spider get its web?"

But when he told a young student this, he said, the child came right back at him and said, "From its butt."

"I'm very grateful to come back to Harvard and to get my ideas--whatever their source," he added.

After the lecture, Lederer signed copies of his works, which were on sale to benefit the Education School.