There are many reasons why I like doing crossword puzzles in general and the New York Times crossword in particular. One is that I learn things.

How is it that I didn’t hear that the singular form of they was named Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2019 back when that happened in early December? This embarasses me as an editor, and especially as a former news editor – although perhaps that’s a partial excuse, since the AP Stylebook long ago (2017) started accepting a singular form of they.

Shame-faced though I be, I’m also delighted by they‘s selection. As an old fuddie-duddie (fun note: spellcheck wanted to make that fudge-duddie) I’ll confess that I was uncomfortable with the singular they for a long time, and it still doesn’t trip off my tongue. But I’m pleased that our culture is moving toward accepting people where they are, and there are lots of people for whom the gendered pronouns he and she are just uncomfortable. No one should have to be made uncomfortable by the language with which they and others talk about themselves. So hooray for they and its increasingly accepted singular meaning.

But how about that Post Office?

As pleased as I am by Merriam-Webster, I’m disappointed today by the U.S. Post, which returned one of my Christmas cards because it had the wrong address—even though the Post Office knew the forwarding address for the person I was trying to reach.

I understand that rules are rules, and I wouldn’t want the Post Office to have to promise to continue forwarding anyone’s mail for all eternity. But when the person has only moved across town, and postal workers can identify the correct forwarding address in order to provide it to me on the envelope, then couldn’t they just send the letter on to the correct destination, rather than return it to me halfway across the country?

• It would be a better service to both me and the friend who will now wait an extra week for that late Christmas card.
• It would have a smaller environmental footprint.

It’s really the second point that saddens me most. I’m trying to reduce my environmental footprint in a whole lot of ways, and it would have been nice if my government hadn’t worked at cross-purposes with me on this.

Ah, well. It’s but one small complaint among many I have with my current federal government, and I still prefer having government-run mail to having this service privatized. I’ll complain about Amtrak, too, all the while knowing that the problem is years and years of under-funding rather than any inherent devaluing of public transportation.

On a happier note…

Rather than end with a complaint, I’ll choose, as one of my friends consciously does every day, to close in gratitude.

My son texted last week with the surprise news that he has completed a master’s degree. This wasn’t in itself unexpected; he’s in a doctoral program, and the master’s is an expected way station. But he had thought he had more coursework to complete for it, and that turns out not to be the case. He’s attending a public university, and I’m grateful that it has the funding to provide his full-tuition funding along with a stipend for research work.

Again, hooray for public institutions. Speaking of which, my library had just the book I was looking for when I realized yesterday that I wanted it. I’m always grateful for public libraries. Also librarians.