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Product Description
Product Description
Weird and Wonderful Words is a pot-pourri, a gallimaufry, a salmagundi, a treasure trove of colourful, quirky, and unusual words. Containing hundreds of definitions written in a clear and conversational style and full-page illustrations which offer a whimsical and hilarious view of our glorious language. Amuse yourself and entertain your friends with your knowledge of who a snollygoster or a Funambulist may be, what a humdudgeon or a nubbingcheat was, or why you might want to engage in catopromancy. Appendices include a bibliography of Oxford dictionaries and a guide to creating your own unusual words correctly from Greek and Latin roots. The perfect stocking filler and gift book, Weird and Wonderful Words is sure to be a favourite of logophiles (word lovers) everywhere.
About the Author
Erin McKean (Senior Editor, US Dictionaries Program) is the editor of the language quarterly Verbatim. Roz Chast (cartoonist) is the staff cartoonist for the New Yorker and author of more than five cartoon books.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a good comprehensive book on the weird words. excellently put into sections for ease of use, and interesting to read. introduces weird words and their uses, the originality of each word also included.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
I got it for a gift, but I'm keeping it!
5 Sep 2002
Format:Hardcover
I saw this book in the New York Times Language column and thought it would make a great gift for my dad, who loves words and crossword puzzles. I started flipping thru it and got hooked. The words aren't boring or stuffy at all, even though a lot of them are long (my favorite was zedonk, the chlid of a donkey and a zebra) and the cartoons are really funny, too.
I only wish there were more words in it. Maybe they'll do a Weird Words 2. I'm going to keep this one and order another one for my dad.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
A Foray into Logodaedaly
6 Mar 2003
Format:Hardcover
Word lovers should find this book highly entertaining. The selected words include some of my personal favorites, and a great many words completely new to me, some of which are new favorites. The illustrations are ho-hum and may lead many readers to wish the space had been used for more words. Luckily, the compiler plans a collection of weirder and wonderfuller words, which will be given some prosaic title by the publisher.
One caveat: there are some racy entries, not enough to spur sales, but enough to give the book an X rating in some households and a PG-13 in many. Too bad, as the book would otherwise be an excellent inspiration for many a young wordsmith. Perhaps the compiler can be persuaded to gather a similar collection of words, like "googol", of interest to children and adults alike. If only this collection had been just a shade more verecund!
I'll let you buy the book if you want to know the precise meanings of logodaedaly and verecund.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Oh so close to perfect!
25 Dec 2002
Format:Hardcover
This is a fantastic book for the logophile! It contains plenty of odd, unusual, rare, and otherwise interesting words, along with their definition. A pleasant layout and humorous illustrations keep the book on the lighter side. While there are a number of such books available, this stands out with supplementary materials such as "How to create you own weird and wonderful words," "A Webliography of Weird and Wonderful Word Sites," and "The Logophile's Bibliography."
My only complaint is that there is no pronunciation included with each entry. This is a relatively small issue, and the only thing keeping the book from a 5-star rating.
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