Weird and Wonderful Words »

Erin McKean is the Senior Editor for the Oxford University Press North American Dictionary Program and the Editor of Verbatim magazine.
Roz Chast is a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker and the author of more than five books of cartoons.

From aboulia, the loss of will or volition, to Zyrian, a language spoken in northern Russia, this dictionary presents words that appealed to McKean (senior editor, Oxford U. Press North American Dictionary Program) for various esoteric reasons. The entries are accompanied by cartoons by Chast (a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker). Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Library Journal

This book is as wonderful as the weird words in it. McKean, editor of Verbatim and a dictionary editor at Oxford, has culled all manner of words that either sound unusual or mean something unusual. Have you ever heard of an otacust or a gallnipper? Have you ever worbled or been exauctorated? If not, you are missing something. Word lovers everywhere will have a great deal of fun with this book. In addition to the dictionary-style presentation, essays are sprinkled throughout (e.g., the fascinating "Irregular and Incredible Illnesses-Many Words for Diseases"), and a concluding essay explains how to create your own weird and wonderful words. To add to the reader's joy, McKean has included quirky and amazing illustrations by New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast that add to the book's flavor and make it that much more intriguing. Because this book is meant to be fun rather than academic, there are no etymologies or pronunciation guides and not much detail for many of the words. But it doesn't really matter because the mandate here is silliness and fun. Funambulists, seplasiaries, and word lovers everywhere surely will want this book.-Manya S. Chylinski, Ctr. for Business Knowledge, Ernst & Young, Boston Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.