I often have a book of words going somewhere in the house; this was the bedside book for the last couple of months. It's an omnibus of the previously published Weird and Wonderful Words and More Weird and Wonderful Words; if you have those two books already, don't bother getting this one, since there's nothing new.If you don't have either or both of those books, and you like words like poffertje (a small doughnut dusted with sugar), or gilly-gawpus (an awkward or foolish person), or mundation (the act of cleaning), then Totally Weird and Wonderful Words is for you.
It has a number of amusing illustrations by Roz Chast and Danny Shanahan -- separately, not working together -- forewords by Simon Winchester and Richard Lederer that basically say "Gosh! Aren't words fun?!" and mostly conversational (rather than dictionaryesque) definitions and usage suggestions from editor McKean.
I've seen a lot of books of odd words; this is one of the very best, informed by scholarship -- it is a distant cousin of the OED -- but not overwhelmed by it. If you're looking for words to exhume for your next fantasy trilogy, or just a fan of reusing obsolete words, you'll love Totally Weird and Wonderful Words.
1 comment:
Poffertjes is not a weird word at all; it's a perfectly normal Dutch word, indeed describing a pancake variety, much smaller and lighter and usually served with dusting of fine sugar.
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