Richard Lederer

A book of wordplay offers hundreds of acrostics, anagrams, puns, riddles, spoonerisms, and skill-testing word games.

A Letter-perfect Book

The Word Circus

An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language

Anguished English

Caroline McCullagh

Joy of Names

Get Thee to a Punnery (revised)

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 wondered why a clam should be happy, a whip smart, punch pleased, and a doornail dead? Through the fifty games included in The Play of Words you'll discover the answers to these questions as well as hundreds of other semantic delights that repose in our marvelous English language.

The Play of Words

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.

Ribald Riddles, Lascivious Limericks, Carnal Corn, and Other Good, Clean Dirty Fun

The Cunning Linguist

A Bonanza of Bloopers, Blunders, Botches, and Boo-Boos

The Bride of Anguished English

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 Haitian Creole? Many of our greatest writers have invented words and bequeathed new expressions to our eveyday conversations. Can you imagine making up almost ten percent of our written vocabulary? Scholars now know that William Shakespeare did just that! He also points out the pitfalls and pratfalls of English. If a man mans a station, what does a woman do? In the "The Department of Redundancy Department," "Is English Prejudiced?" and other essays, Richard Lederer urges us not to abandon that which makes us human: the capacity to distinguish, discriminate, compare, and evaluate.

The Miracle of Language

Lampooning the myriad mistakes that crop up in the everyday use of the English language this collection presents faux pas from students' essays, newspaper headlines, accident reports, and everyday grammar mistakes

Witty commentary and sketches mark a compilation of unintended subversions of the English language

More Anguished English

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.

Crazy English

John Shore

A lighthearted primer on the fundamentals of American-language punctuation devotes a series of chapters to each of the major punctuation marks.

A Fun-damental Guide to Punctuation

Comma Sense

With fascinating etymologies and letter patterns of more than 400 everyday words, bestselling language writer Richard Lederer offers insights into the most bedazzling, beguiling, and bewitching words in the English language. Readers will discover why William Shakespeare may be hiding in the Old Testament; why "run" is the longest word in English; how people's names become common words; and how the Bible, mythology, the sea, the land, show business, and games spark words and phrases in everyday vocabulary. Chock-full of transfixing word histories, magical letter play, and hilarious puns, Amazing Words is an essential book for wordaholics, logolepts, and verbivores.

An Alphabetical Anthology of Alluring, Astonishing, Beguiling, Bewitching, Enchanting, Enthralling, Mesmerizing, Miraculous, Tantalizing, Tempting, and Transfixing Words

Amazing Words

The “impossible to put down” compendium of linguistic bloopers and blunders: a hilarious collection of malapropisms, mixed metaphors and more (San Francisco Chronicle). In Anguished English, 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 advertising copy, Lederer shares a treasure trove of laugh-out-loud flubs and gaffes worthy of a Pullet Surprise. “Hilarious.”—Chicago Tribune “Richard Lederer is the true king of language comedy. Anguished English is the funniest book I have ever read.”—Sidney Sheldon

An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon the English Language

Stan Kegel

A Punderful Celebration of Song

The Ants Are My Friends

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.

Reflections on the English Language

A Man of My Words

An introduction to wordplay, including puns, spoonerisms, riddles, and more.

Jokes, Riddles, Daffynitions, Tairy Fales, Rhymes, and More Wordplay for Kids

Pun and Games

Celebrating Your Best Friend Dogs have been man's best friend for thousands of years, securing our hearts with their unwavering loyalty and boundless love. Join bestselling author Richard Lederer for a fun-filled collection of rollicking humor, witty word games, touching stories, and more -- all complemented by hilarious drawings. Celebrate the company of your furry pal as you delight in such wit and wisdom as... • All I Need to Know I Learned from My Dog • Ten Commandments for Dog Owners • A Dozen Distinguished Dogs • The Difference Between Dogs and Cats

Richard Lederer

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