Lederer on Language: A Celebration of English, Good Grammar, and Wordplay

by Richard Lederer

Overview

In this wide-ranging collection of essays, best-selling language writer Richard Lederer offers readers more of the irrepressible word play his fans can't get enough of, along with his observations on a life in letters. From teaching English to Russian fifth graders to a zany dinner for punsters and from etymology to slang to dialect to fadspeak, these essays are learning and language dressed up to have fun, as only Dr. Lederer does it. He is the author of 60 books on language, history, and humor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781957807263
Publisher:	Waterside Productions
Publication date:	05/11/2022
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.36(d)

About the Author

Richard Lederer is a former teacher who taught English and media for 27 years and has been named International Punster of the Year and Toastmasters International's Golden Gavel winner. He is the author of more than 35 books, including Anguished English, Crazy English, Get Thee to a Punnery, The Gift of Age, and More Anguished English. He lives in San Diego.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ii

Introduction: Confessions of a Verbivore vii

A Celebration of English

Our Abounding English Language 2

Doing a Number on English 4

A Guide to Britspeak, A to Zed 8

This American Language

A Declaration of Language Independence 14

Talking Turkey 17

Ail-American Dialects 20

Slang As It Is Slung 25

A Circus of Words 28

Words from Our Presidents 30

Stamp Out Fadspeak! 33

Like, What's Happening to Our Language? 36

The Glamour of Grammar

Conan the Grammarian 40

Laying Down the Law-Without Lying Down on the Job 47

Sex and the Singular Pronoun 49

An Open Letter to Ann Landers 51

Spellbound

Under a Spell 56

I Before E, Except? 62

Fairly Familiar Phrases 65

Getting the Word Out

Writing Is… 68

How I Write 69

Plane Talk 72

Radio Days 75

English with a Russian Dressing 82

The Collide-O-Scope of Language

How Wise Is Proverbial Wisdom? 88

Words That Never Stray 92

Heads Without Tails 96

Our Uppity English Language 98

On Palindromes 100

The Long and the Short of English 103

The Romance of Words

Toothsome Etymologies 108

Haunted Words 112

My Kids the Poker Players 117

On Paradox 121

A Primer of Political Words 123

The True Meanings of Christmas 127

Literature Lives! 131

It's a Punderful Life

Jest for the Pun of It 136

Pun Your Way to Success 140

Nothing Works for Me 144

A Bilingual Pun is Twice the Fun 147

My Favorite Monsters 151

Answers to Quizzes and Games 154

Editorial Reviews

William Safire has sparked many word debates, but also burning brightly is 65-year-old word detective and language lecturer Lederer (Anguished English, etc.). Self-labeled Attila the Pun and Conan the Grammarian, he reaches a million readers with his syndicated "Looking at Language" column. His columns have been slightly rewritten to spice up this clever collection, an appetizing antipasto that fishes for pungent puns. Topics range from split infinitives to political correctness, from word play to letter play: "TWENTY-NINE is spelled with letters made of lines only-twenty-nine of them, to be exact." He begins with American and Britspeak divergences ("Colour by Technicolor") and words substituted in Cockney rhyming slang: "D'ye 'ear me, or are ye Mutt and Jeff? = Do you hear me, or are you deaf?" These subjects and several others are posed as games and quizzes. Listing words with Native American origins (apossoun = opossum), he moves on to accents, bilingual puns, circus argot, long and short words, the origin of OK, poker parlance, pop culture catchphrases ("Isn't that special?") and Southernisms. One amusing piece is totally written in the cliches of "fadspeak": "Do the math. Get used to it.... It's a done deal because I've got a full plate, and I bring a lot to the table." Actually, Lederer does bring a lot to the table, joking and gagging up a total of 45 essays, mostly entertaining but best digested in small portions. (Dec.) FYI: Also in December is a reissue of Lederer's The Cunning Linguist (Griffin), so expect double promotions and double entendres. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Columnist, prolific language humorist, and radio-show host Lederer offers over 40 brief essays that illuminate wide-ranging aspects of the English language. The essays mix puns, anecdotes, poems, quotations, and six word games with serious discussion of grammar and literary history. These creative essays demonstrate and delight in the complex nature of language and linguistic change. In one game, for instance, readers identify names of movie stars from clues, which are puns. Elsewhere, Lederer rebuts journalist Jesse Sheidlower, insisting upon the correct pronunciation of the word nuclear, and takes Ann Landers to task for tolerating certain grammatical or spelling errors. Yet in the essay "Conan the Grammarian," Lederer amusingly debunks traditional "rules" regarding ending a sentence with a preposition or splitting infinitives. A unique, skillful combination of humor and substance, this compilation is recommended for public and academic libraries.-Marianne Orme, Des Plaines P.L., IL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"If you love words, you will love Richard Lederer's immensely entertaining collection of essays on the English language."  —Dallas Morning News




"A rollicking memoir of one man's lifelong love affair with language. . . . This is Lederer at his verbivorous, language-besotted best."  —Martha Barnette, author, Dog Days and Dandelions



"Richard Lederer ought to be declared a national treasure."  —Richmond Times-Dispatch

From the Publisher