Synopses & Reviews
Richard Lederer has been called Attila the Pun, Conan the Grammarian, and the Viceroy of Verbivores. In The Revenge of Anguished English, Lederer leaves us limp with laughter at how the innocent, the negligent, and the pompous mangle the English language. Lederer loves a good verbal blooper: Unfortunate typos, misplaced modifiers, unintended double-entendres, downright stupidity---its all here, collected and celebrated by the most popular anguished language expert of them all. As a bonus, not a single blooper, blunder, or boo-boo has been made up or fiddled with. Consider these bloopers:
- Richard Lederer is the author of more than thirty books on language and humor, including Anguished English and A Man of My Words. His column, "Looking at Language," appears in newspapers and magazines nationwide, and he co-hosts "A Way with Words" on San Diego public radio. He lives with his wife, Simone van Egeren, in San Diego. Richard Lederer has been called Attila the Pun, Conan the Grammarian, and the Viceroy of Verbivores. In The Revenge of Anguished English, this "Abbot of Absurdity" (as People magazine has dubbed him) leaves us limp with laughter at how the innocent, the negligent, and the pompous mangle the English language. True to the code of this super-duper blooper snooper, all the fluffs and flubs, goofs, and gaffes, blunders, botches, boo-boos, and bloopers are genuine, authentic, certified, and unretouched. Nothing has been made up! "Fourth in the Anguished English series, Lederer's newest collection of grammatical goofs will elicit laughs from start to finish. Cataloguing the hilarious ways in which people mangle the English language, Lederer offers hundreds of new linguistic blunders, from infamous 'Bushisms' to poorly worded newspaper headlines. Children, in early experiments with language and logic, utter some of the funniest foul-ups. For example, as a mother desperately pounds catsup out of a bottle, her four-year-old answers the phone and says, 'Mommy can't come to the phone to talk to you right now. She's hitting the bottle.' In another instance, a mother asks her child what she learned on the first day of school, and the child's reply is: 'Not enough. They say I have to go back tomorrow.' In addition to these 'kiddisms,' the book touches upon more adult humor, as in a headline that reads: 'Soviet Virgin Lands Short of Goal Again.' Complete with ridiculously obvious product warnings, church bulletin bloopers and celebrities caught saying the wrong things, this book celebrates the English language by allowing readers to laugh at others' amusing mistakes."Publishers Weekly "Prolific author Lederer has written many language books; this title is part of his ongoing humorous series that began with Anguished English (1987). The book is divided into five sections (each containing from three to five short chapters) covering the funny mistakes made by children, gaffes committed by the famous, botched newspaper headlines and stories, translation problems, and grammatical errors. Each chapter ends with Hall of Fame examples of the topic under discussion. Malapropisms, misplaced modifiers, and unintentionally funny typos are all here, and in between chuckles, readers are sure to learn plenty about proper sentence structure. However, Lederer leads off with what may be the funniest section in the book when he recounts kids' mistakes, especially the student bloopers ('The four gospels were written by John, Paul, George, and that other guy'). The book is so chock-full of humorous examples that readers are bound to laugh at least once per page. Everyone makes mistakeswhy are they so much funnier when they are someone else's? Lederer seems to know the answer to that one."Booklist
Review
"Richard Lederer is the true King of Language Comedy. His
Anguished English books are the funniest books I have ever read."
- Sidney Sheldon
"Someone should declare Richard Lederer a national treasure."
- Anne Merriman, Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Only Richard Lederer could make the complete decline of the English language so entertaining."
- Mike Reiss, Emmy Award-winning writer and producer of The Simpsons
"Richard Lederer's delight in English is itself delightful--and contagious!"
- Edwin Newman, author of I Must Say
"Richard Lederer has done it again--another delightful, witty, and hugely absorbing celebration of the English language. Is there no stopping this man?"
- Bill Bryson, author of A Walk in the Woods
Synopsis
Richard Lederer has been called Attila the Pun, Conan the Grammarian, and the Viceroy of Verbivores. In The Revenge of Anguished English, this Abbot of Absurdity (as People magazine has dubbed him) leaves us limp with laughter at how the innocent, the negligent, and the pompous mangle the English language. True to the code of this super-duper blooper snooper, all the fluffs and flubs, goofs and gaffes, and blunders, botches, boo-boos, and bloopers are genuine, authentic, certified, and unretouched. Nothing has been made up
* Student blooper: The four gospels are written by John, Paul, George, and that other guy.
* Science blooper: Elephants eat roots, leaves, grasses, and sometimes bark.
* In a church bulletin: Attend and you will hear an excellent speaker and heave a healthy lunch.
* A headline howler: DENVER CHAPTER WILL HAVE SENATOR FOR BREAKFAST
* On a frozen food package: Defrost your frozen food before eating.
* Misplaced modifier: Children should not drive golf carts under the age of sixteen.
* Spelling error: The driver of the car was cited for wreckless driving.
Synopsis
Richard Lederer has been called Attila the Pun, Conan the Grammarian, and the Viceroy of Verbivores. In The Revenge of Anguished English, Lederer leaves us limp with laughter at how the innocent, the negligent, and the pompous mangle the English language. Lederer loves a good verbal blooper: Unfortunate typos, misplaced modifiers, unintended double-entendres, downright stupidity---its all here, collected and celebrated by the most popular anguished language expert of them all. As a bonus, not a single blooper, blunder, or boo-boo has been made up or fiddled with. Consider these bloopers:
- In an essay, a student wrote, “The ship that brought the first settlers to the new world was the Cauliflower.”
- Many gas stations equipped with snack stores display the sign “Eat Here and Get Gas.”
- A classified ad offered “antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.”
- Another student blooper: The four gospels are written by John, Paul, George, and that other guy.
- A science blooper: Elephants eat roots, leaves, grasses, and sometimes bark.
- In a church bulletin: Attend and you will hear an excellent speaker and heave a healthy lunch.
- On a baby stroller: Remove child before folding.
About the Author
Richard Lederer, Ph.D., is the author of more than thirty books on the English language, including
Anguished English, A Man of My Words, Comma Sense, and, most recently,
Word Wizard. His syndicated column
Looking at Language appears in newspapers and magazines nationwide, and he frequently appears on radio as a language commentator. He lives in San Diego with his wife, Simone van Egeren.