"Noted linguist Lederer ( Anguished English) has a naughty side, which . . . makes this collection of wordplays a bawdily noteworthy achievement." — Publishers WeeklyHave 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 adventur...

Anguished English is the impossibly funny anthology of accidental assaults upon our common language. From bloopers and blunders to Signs of the Times to Mixed-Up Metaphors . . . from Two-Headed Headlines to Mangling Modifiers . . . it's a collection that will leave you roaring with delight and laughter.

Introduces the wacky world of wordplay with puns, spoonerisms, games of word substitution, and more.

For years wordsmith and punster Richard Lederer has charmed and delighted fans with his bestselling "Anguished English" series. In his funniest book yet, readers will again cherish the author's latest chronicle of the goofs and gaffes and fluffs and flubs of our anguished language. And the best part? Everything in here actually occurred! Nothing has been made up!Bloopers from foreign restaurants include:* "Our wines leave you nothing to hope for."* "As for the tripe se...

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...

Learn the origins of popular phrases in the English language through this exciting book of games perfect for language lovers.Do you know the connection between the expression A HARROWING EXPERIENCE and agriculture, between BY AND LARGE and sailing, between GET YOUR GOAT and horses, or between STEAL YOUR THUNDER and show business?You probably have heard the comparisons HAPPY AS A CLAM, SMART AS A WHIP, PLEASED AS PUNCH, DEAD AS A DOORNAIL—but have you ever w...

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 metap...

After a multi-decade career of stimulating readers to appreciate and laugh at the glories and oddities of our English language, beloved language maven Richard Lederer has collected his very best and most popular pieces in Word Wizard. In this career-capping anthology the reader will find essays that enlighten, inspire, and tickle the funny bone.From his hilarious bloopers to his hymns of praise to the English language, these essays are the brightest gems of a storied career...

The “impossible to put down” compendium of linguistic bloopers and blunders; a hilarious collection of malapropisms, mixed metaphors and more (San Francisco Chronicle).Anguished Englishis the impossibly funny anthology of accidental assaults upon our common language. Author, Richard Lederer, collects some of the worst—and funniest—English language errors ever committed to print. From legendary student screwups to horrible headlines and cringe-worthy advert...

“Only Richard Lederer could make the complete decline of the English language so entertaining,” writes Mike Reiss, the Emmy Award winning writer and producer of The Simpsons. Lederer has been dubbed The Abbot of Absurdity, Attila the Pun, and Learning dressed up to have fun.In The Revenge of Anguished English, Lederer leaves his listeners limp with laughter at how the innocent, the negligent, and the pompous mangle our beloved language. America’s ...

The one thing we Americans have in common is our history. It doesn’t matter if you’re a first-generation or twelfth-generation American. You own our history. That’s what makes you an American. That’s the glue that holds us together as a people.Only 21 percent of Americans know that the presidential faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln are carved on Mount Rushmore. On the other hand, more than half can name at least t...

A "delightful, witty, and hugely absorbing celebration of the English language" filled with usage tips, grammar games, and more (Bill Bryson, New York Times–bestselling author of The Mother Tongue).Famed wordaholic Richard Lederer has teamed up with Richard Dowis to take readers on another journey through the world's most wonderful, albeit perplexing, language. Aside from clearing up once and for all the confusion between lay and lie, the authors p...