Spring 2005

Volume 45, Number 4

Book Review: Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language

by Deb Lockwood

Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language
Richard Lederer. 1987. New York: Dell Publishing. [ISBN: 0-440-20352-X. 177 pages. $7.50 (paperback).] http://www.verbivore.com/rlbooks.htm

The English language is a ripe target for bloopers, and Richard Lederer is the acknowledged expert in its foibles. Lederer has made a prolific career of documenting the humorous side of the English language, first as a high school English teacher, and now as an author and speaker.

Lederer defines his audience as "verbivores." His verbivore Web site (www.verbivore.com) contains the following definition: "Welcome to the Web site woven for wordaholics, logolepts, and verbivores. Carnivores eat meat; herbivores eat plants and vegetables; verbivores devour words."

Anguished English, his first book, is divided into four major parts and various sections:

I. Schoolishness

• Student Bloopers Win Pullet Surprises
• The World According to Student Bloopers
• Excuses, Excuses

• Disorder in the Court!
• Accidental Bloopers
• It's an Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World
• Signs of the Times
• Welfare Bloopers Fare Well
• Stop the Presses!
• Two-Headed Headlines

• Modern Day Malapropisms
• Mixed-Up Metaphors
• An Irish Bull Is Always Pregnant
• Goldwynisms and Berraisms
• Lost in Translation

• Mangling Modifiers
• References Wanted
• Laffing at Misspellings
• Howta Reckanize American Slurvian

Lederer's latest title is The Cunning Linguist. Other Lederer titles, available through his Web site and other book sellers, include More Anguished English, The Bride of Anguished English, and Get Thee To a Punnery. In my opinion, Lederer's work is best enjoyed in small bites — a chapter at a time.