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Master verbalist Richard Lederer, America's "Wizard of Idiom" (Denver Post), presents a love letter to the most glorious of human achievements... Welcome to Richard Lederer's beguiling celebration of language -- of our ability to utter, write, and receive words. No purists need stop here. Mr. Lederer is no linguistic sheriff organizing posses to hunt down and string up language offenders. Instead, join him "In Praise of English," and discover why the tongue described in Shakespeare's day as "of small reatch" has become the most widely spoken language in history: English never rejects a word because of race, creed, or national origin. Did you know that jukebox comes from Gullah and canoe from...
In what other language, asks Lederer, do people drive on a parkway and park in a driveway, and your nose can run and your feet can smell? In CRAZY ENGLISH, Lederer frolics through the logic-boggling byways of our language, discovering the names for phobias you didn't know you could have, the longest words in our dictionaries, and the shortest sentence containing every letter in the alphabet. You'll take a bird's-eye view of our beastly language, feast on a banquet of mushrooming food metaphors, and meet the self-reflecting Doctor Rotcod, destined to speak only in palindromes.
A collection of humorous language bloopers including misspelled words, bungled translations, mangled modifiers, and much more.
anguage and grammar expert Richard Lederer is our foremost-and funniest-commentator on the quirks and pleasures of the English language. Popular with writers, students, and anyone who loves words, many of his books have become modern classics-including Anguished English, one of the bestselling language-humor books. Keen-eared and good-humored, these essays reflect on slang, regional dialects, Britspeak, political correctness, puns, the art of teaching, usage, and other topics ripe for the author's unique brand of skewering. Readers will follow the author from a wordy weekend in upstate New York to classrooms in Russia and inner-city Philadelphia to zero seconds of fame on a major national talk show. These essays will delight anyone who lays blame on those who confuse lie and lay, and who goes nuclear over the pronunciation noo-kyuh-lur.
Get Thee to a Punnery proves that the pun is mightier than the sword . . . and here are sidesplitting puns of every color, stripe and persuasion to suit every whim. Even if you don't know that your humerus is your funny bone, this is the book for you. The Time of the Signs: On a diaper service truck: Rock a dry baby. On a plumber's service truck: A flush is better than a full house. Show me where Stalin is buried and I'll show you a communist plot! -Edgar Bergen Quiche me-I'm French! Hangover-the wrath of grapes Work is the ruin of the drinking classes. -Oscar Wilde
Presents a collection of humorous language errors from newspaper headlines, politician's remarks, court transcripts, insurance forms, signs, and classified ads.
The author of Anguished English presents a compendium of fascinating facts and anecdotes about some of literature’s greatest authors and works. Author and English teacher Richard Lederer is one of the world’s foremost lovers of language and literature. In this endlessly engaging volume, he collects some of the most curious trivia about world-renowned authors and poets as well as their many immortal creations. The perfect gift for bibliophiles, Richard Lederer’s Literary Trivia sheds surprising new light on the books and writers we love.
Offers practical tips to improve writing skills and avoid common grammar and syntax errors.
Confessions of a verbivore--A celebration of English. Our abounding English language; Doing a number on English ; A guide to Britspeak, A to Zed --This American language. A declaration of language independence ; Talking turkey ; All-American dialects ; Slang as it is slung ; A circus of words ; Words from oure presidents ; Stamp out fadspeak! ; Like, what's happening to our language? -- The glamour of grammar. Conan the grammarian ; Laying down the law--without lying down on the job; Sex and the singular pronoun ; An open letter to Ann Landers--Spellbound. Under a spell ; I before E, except?..;Fairly familiar phrases--Getting the word out. Writing is ... ; How I write; Plane talk; Radio days...
“Noted linguist Lederer (Anguished English) has a naughty side, which . . . makes this collection of wordplays a bawdily noteworthy achievement.” —Publishers Weekly Have some fun with your native tongue! In The Cunning Linguist, renowned language expert Richard Lederer shows us the naughtier side of wordplay, revealing hundreds of hilarious, ingenious, unabashed, and adults-only puns, jokes, limericks, one-liners, and other adventures in sexual humor. This book of “good, clean dirty fun” will delight word hounds, punsters, bachelor-party goers, and anyone who likes a clever grown-up joke. Here’s a taste of The Cunning Linguist: Q: What does a man have in his pants that you can also find on a pool table? A: Pockets. Have you heard about the incompatible couple? He had no income, and she wasn’t pattable. The four stages of a couple’s sex life: Under 35: Tri-weekly 35-45: Try weekly 45-55: Try weakly 55 and over: Try, try, try. For much more, sneak between the covers of this unique and laugh-out-loud book. “Delightfully raunchy.” —Sidney Sheldon, #1 New York Times–bestselling author