Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download The Curmudgeon's Dictionary PDF full book. Access full book title The Curmudgeon's Dictionary by William Soisson. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: William Soisson Publisher: Xlibris Corporation ISBN: 1514486164 Category : Reference Languages : en Pages : 254
Book Description
Twenty years ago, when the author first read Ambrose Bierce's "Devil's Dictionary," he was ecstatic. Here at last was a creative work that was utterly lacking in discrimination. Worth no regard whatever for race, creed, color, sex, religion, or fast food preference, Bierce kicked everyone's sacred cow right in the udder. The author instantly knew that somehow, some day, he must continue the work begun by Ambrose. So it is that "The Curmudgeon's Dictionary" follows the great Bierce's lead in flaying without mercy the pretentious of our world. At the same time, "TCD" unavoidably reflects many of the changes in style that have occurred in our language since 1911, when "The Devil's Dictionary" was first published. Many of the old poets, like Biddle Tamey and Opned Teal, so well quoted by Bierce, are gone, having been replaced by such contemporary greats as Taner Bane and Sigson Kolgy, who, though they lack the elegance of the poets of Bierce's day, have the virtues of simplicity and forthrightness. Then, too, changes in science and technology have brought us many new terms such as "computer," "CAT Scan," "Jive," and "Monica," which did not yet exist in Bierce's day. Moreover, changes in the attention span have made it desirable to abbreviate many definitions and support the work of the aforementioned more concise poets. The author has violated this procedure only when considerations of clarity or beauty have made it imperative, as with the haunting "Ode to a Giant Bonsai Tree." Aside from such evolutionary matters, one will find that some of the venerable Bierce's definitions are still valid today and have found their way into this magnificent book in updated form. The updating is no criticism of the master, only recognition that time moves things, if not forward, at least along.
Author: William Soisson Publisher: Xlibris Corporation ISBN: 1514486164 Category : Reference Languages : en Pages : 254
Book Description
Twenty years ago, when the author first read Ambrose Bierce's "Devil's Dictionary," he was ecstatic. Here at last was a creative work that was utterly lacking in discrimination. Worth no regard whatever for race, creed, color, sex, religion, or fast food preference, Bierce kicked everyone's sacred cow right in the udder. The author instantly knew that somehow, some day, he must continue the work begun by Ambrose. So it is that "The Curmudgeon's Dictionary" follows the great Bierce's lead in flaying without mercy the pretentious of our world. At the same time, "TCD" unavoidably reflects many of the changes in style that have occurred in our language since 1911, when "The Devil's Dictionary" was first published. Many of the old poets, like Biddle Tamey and Opned Teal, so well quoted by Bierce, are gone, having been replaced by such contemporary greats as Taner Bane and Sigson Kolgy, who, though they lack the elegance of the poets of Bierce's day, have the virtues of simplicity and forthrightness. Then, too, changes in science and technology have brought us many new terms such as "computer," "CAT Scan," "Jive," and "Monica," which did not yet exist in Bierce's day. Moreover, changes in the attention span have made it desirable to abbreviate many definitions and support the work of the aforementioned more concise poets. The author has violated this procedure only when considerations of clarity or beauty have made it imperative, as with the haunting "Ode to a Giant Bonsai Tree." Aside from such evolutionary matters, one will find that some of the venerable Bierce's definitions are still valid today and have found their way into this magnificent book in updated form. The updating is no criticism of the master, only recognition that time moves things, if not forward, at least along.
Author: Mark Herrmann Publisher: American Bar Association ISBN: 9781590316764 Category : Law Languages : en Pages : 162
Book Description
This collection of essays written by The Curmudgeon, offers practical, honest and you need to know this advice for surviving and thriving in a law firm. The book covers the basics of law practice and law firm etiquette, from doing effective research and writing to dressing for success, dealing with staff and clients and building a law practice. Concise, humorous and full of valuable (albeit curmudgeonly) insight, this is a must-read for every newly minted law school graduate or new lawyer.
Author: William Safire Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0195340612 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 887
Book Description
Featuring more than one thousand new, rewritten, and updated entries, this reference on American politics explains current terms in politics, economics, and diplomacy.
Author: Allan Wooley Publisher: Book Venture Publishing LLC ISBN: 1946735485 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 250
Book Description
After growing up in Maine and attending Bowdoin, the author earned a PhD in Classics at Princeton. He taught at Duke, before returning to Phillips Exeter Academy, where he taught for 36 years and was department chair and coordinator of academic computing. In the New England Classical Association he served as president and executive secretary.
Author: David Micklethwait Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 9780786421572 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 362
Book Description
Noah Webster was described by the publisher of a competing dictionary as "a vain ... plodding Yankee, who aspired to be a second Johnson"--a criticism that rings mostly true. He was certainly vain and, born in Connecticut, undeniably a Yankee. Moreover, though he referred to Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language as a "barren desart of philology," the American lexicographer relied heavily on the book during the creation of his own American Dictionary, going so far as to filch whole sections. And few would seem more "plodding" than Webster, who was positively obsessed with collecting and preserving bits of information. He kept records of the weather, carefully logged the number of houses in every new town he passed through, filed away every scrap of his writing and everything written about him, and filled the margins of his books with references, dates and corrections. The proud Yankee's sensibilities, however, also made him a fine lexicographer. Generally credited with distinguishing American spelling and usage from British, Webster shunned prescriptive mores and was doggedly loyal to his own language habits, as well as to those of the average American speaker. The book covers Webster's major publications and the influences and methods that shaped them; recounts his life as schoolteacher, copyright law champion, and itinerant lecturer; and examines the Webster legacy. An appendix containing title page reproductions from Webster's books, as well as some from his predecessors and competitors, is also included.
Author: Jack Lynch Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA ISBN: 0802719341 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 128
Book Description
Lackbrain, oysterwench, wantwit, clotpoll--Samuel Johnson's famous dictionary of 1755 contained some of the ripest insults in the English language. In Samuel Johnson's Insults, Jack Lynch has compiled more than 300 of the curmudgeonly lexicographer's mightiest barbs, along with definitions only the master himself could elucidate. Word lovers will delight in flexing their linguistic muscles with devilishly descriptive vituperations that pack a wicked punch. Many of these zingers have long lain dormant. Some have even come close to extinction. Now they're back in all their prickly glory, ready to be relished once more.
Author: Nancy Henley Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing ISBN: 9780740710070 Category : Humor Languages : en Pages : 340
Book Description
Curmudgeons have for ages spiked life and literature with barbs and arrows, which are never so sharp as when shot from a woman's sling. From Shakespeare's Shrew to television's Maude, they've added pepper to the often bland stew of human conversation. Organized into 50 broad categories, The Curmudgeon Woman is a collection of 500 quotations from more than 300 razor-witted females. Covering a period from the 1600s to the present, they share their needle-sharp points of view on such engaging topics as aging, happiness, sex, marriage, inequality, fashion, life, and death. Not just funny, not just nasty, The Curmudgeon Woman combines sharp wit with deep truths. With contributions ranging from Minna Antrim (Experience is a good teacher, but she sends in terrific bills.) to Natalie Wood (The only time a woman really succeeds in changing a man is when he's a baby.), The Curmudgeon Woman displays a wry sense of humor and more wisdom than ought to be allowed.
Author: Walter Block Publisher: AuthorHouse ISBN: 1477237240 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 224
Book Description
Del Rio. Val Verde. By the river. The Green Valley. The great grand parents and their kin came. By horse . . . wagon . . . stage coach . . . foot back. They settled the village. Helped name it Del Rio. Assisted in forming Val Verde County. Grandparents told stories: of their coming to live in the wonderful country where Devils River, the Pecos, and the Rio Grande meet . . . of early times in the boundary area where the Chihuahuan Desert from the west meets hills of the Edwards Plateau to the north and merges with Tamaulipas brush land from the south and the east. Times change. Winter-time tale-tellings before the fireplace on grand-dad’s knee . . . warm-weather story-sharings on the back porch in grand-ma’s lap . . . wisps of Prince Albert pipe smoke . . .twinkings of twilight fire-flies . . . all eroded away by movies, television, and cell phones. But there are still stories to tell. Tales to pass on. Things we want children – grandchildren – those still to come – to remember – in times yet to be. This book is a gathering of happenings – remembrances of events – glimpses of parenting – thoughts of yesteryear. It tells of: Horses and windmills and tarantulas . . . a wrong-way bus trip . . . a hidden wedding ring . . . sycamore trees . . . a lost bath and football shack showers . . . lions and toads and tin soldiers . . . a picket fence . . . old telephones . . . poison pig weed . . . a crusty old red rooster . . . building boats and reviving old cars . . . holiday traditions . . . hunting experiences . . . sailing fiascos . . . and more.
Author: Anatoly Liberman Publisher: U of Minnesota Press ISBN: 1452913218 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 413
Book Description
This work introduces renowned linguistics scholar Anatoly Liberman's comprehensive dictionary and bibliography of the etymology of English words. The English etymological dictionaries published in the past claim to have solved the mysteries of word origins even when those origins have been widely disputed. An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology "by contrast, discusses all of the existing derivations of English words and proposes the best one. In the inaugural volume, Liberman addresses fifty-five words traditionally dismissed as being of unknown etymology. Some of the entries are among the most commonly used words in English, including man, boy, girl, bird, brain, understand, key, ever, " and yet." Others are slang: mooch, nudge, pimp, filch, gawk, " and skedaddle." Many, such as beacon, oat, hemlock, ivy," and toad," have existed for centuries, whereas some have appeared more recently, for example, slang, kitty-corner, " and Jeep." They are all united by their etymological obscurity. This unique resource book discusses the main problems in the methodology of etymological research and contains indexes of subjects, names, and all of the root words. Each entry is a full-fledged article, shedding light for the first time on the source of some of the most widely disputed word origins in the English language. "Anatoly Liberman is one of the leading scholars in the field of English etymology. Undoubtedly his work will be an indispensable tool for the ongoing revision of the etymological component of the entries in the Oxford English Dictionary."" --Bernhard Diensberg, OED" consultant, French etymologies Anatoly Liberman is professor of Germanic philology at the University of Minnesota. He has published many works, including 16 books, most recently Word Origins . . . and How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone."
Author: William Soisson
Author: William Soisson
Author: Mark Herrmann
Author: William Safire
Author: Allan Wooley
Author: David Micklethwait
Author: Jack Lynch
Author: 
Author: Nancy Henley
Author: Walter Block
Author: Anatoly Liberman