Word Wizard: Super Bloopers, Rich Reflections, and Other Acts of Word MagicSt. Martin's Publishing Group, 2007 M04 1 - 272 pages After a multi-decade career of stimulating readers to appreciate and laugh at the glories and oddities of our English language, beloved language maven Richard Lederer has collected his very best and most popular pieces in Word Wizard. In this career-capping anthology the reader will find essays that enlighten, inspire, and tickle the funny bone. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 19
... he called Night .... And God said , Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters .... And God called the firmament Heaven . " [ Emphasis mine . ] Note those verbs of speaking and naming . God doesn't x vi INTRODUCTION.
... night . my God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Mon- tezuma . Jacob , son of Isaac , stole his brother's birthmark . Ja- cob was a patriarch , who brought up his twelve sons to be patriarchs , but they did not take to it . One ...
... " In onion there is strength . " Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address while traveling from Washington to Gettysburg on the back of an envelope . On the night of April 14 , 1865 , Lincoln 13 THE WORLD ACCORDING TO STUDENT BLOOPERS.
... night of April 14 , 1865 , Lincoln went to the the- ater and got shot in his seat by one of the actors in the moving picture show . The believed assinator was John Wilkes Booth , a supposingly insane actor . This ruined Booth's career ...
... the ramrods we washed Were so gallantly steaming . And the rockets ' red glare , The bombs bursting in there , Grapefruit through the night That our flag was still rare . I pledge the pigeons to the flag Of the United 18 WORD WIZARD.
Contents
The Loom of Language | 37 |
Crazy English | 99 |
The Write Way | 139 |
The Joys of Lex | 179 |
Making the Alphabet Dance | 219 |