Totally Weird and Wonderful Words Illustrated Edition

But we just didn't know them until the marve!ous Erin McKean showed us what we never, or rarely knew. For word lovers, for protectors of our precious gift of language, for those who are fascinated by linguistic novelty, Ms. McKean's book is a treasure, well, beyond words. It's just fun trying to remember the ones that strike the fancy and then trying to work them unto casual conversation. Especially autoschediastically. The book will tell you what that means. Enjoy, enjoy.

I liked this book mainly for the fact that we are called upon to make passwords constantly and these weird words help with making passphrasing passwords to a great degree. I admit that most words in the book I have never seen before as probably many other people also. Great book.

This book is perfect! I am an author and I always find new ways to use the words in it. They often make me laugh, too. Who would have thought that "Tokoloshes" and "cromulent" could be used in the same sentence?If you like dictionaries and thesauruses, this is the best of them all. There is nothing ordinary about it!

unusual funny words (great for balderdash)

A myriad plus a plethora of new words as you review comfortably ensconced in the privacy of your abode. Note: some of the latter words in the former sentence are new.

Although this was intended as a gift, I couldn't avoid giving into the temptation to read it first before sending it off.

Oxford University Press (or whoever is responsible for the printing) should be ashamed. The margins are off. The cartoons are dim. The type is pixilated. The gutters are tight. Content deserves better. Something clearly went wrong.

Buyer beware: this is exactly the same book (except for title) as "Weird and Wonderful Words", which is listed here as being by Simon Winchester but in fact is also by Erin McKean. It's an enjoyable book, but you wouldn't want to buy it twice thinking you were getting a sequel.=========================================CORRECTION:My apologies to the beleaguered author - a more careful re-examination of the introduction does indeed disclose that this is a combination of the two previous books, and I'm sure it does include the additional new words. When I first opened it up, all the entries I looked at were repeats, so I jumped to a hasty conclusion.I do think, though, that online buyers need an advisory on this, as some others might otherwise make the same mistake I did, of thinking that this one is a third book "totally" different from the first two.

great