Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
The Superior Person's Book Of Words
by
Peter Bowler
Are you an Anglophile? (Stout fellow!) Just stand at this springboard and leave the fields of popinjay jabber and tongue-stumped battology behind forever! Stop up for big dividends in the giddy heights of superior speech. Peter Bowler will teach you the practical riches of saying it well with good words, neglected words, and precise words for vocabular exultation!
Published
(first published 1979)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
544)
At first glance, Peter Bowler appears to represent the position I mocked in an earlier post, that command of a larger vocabulary is a means to social advancement, and can be acquired by reading a book full of fancy words. Fortunately, closer reading of his introduction to this short, amusing, book reveals a refreshing tongue-in-cheek attitude. I can imagine that the author's smart aleckness could lose its appeal over the long haul, but it works quite well in a book of this size (500 words define...more
I guess it's just me, because everyone else seemed to love this book, but I found it tedious and wanted to slap the author a few times. Sure, I learned a few really good words, and I do love words. But most of the words are impossible-to-remember obscurities. Worse, some of them are words everyone knows, included to give the author an excuse to go off on some cranky old man rant. His humor is broad, sexist, and unsubtle, mostly turning on the tired concepts of shopaholic wives, nagging mothers-i...more
If you like words, these books are recommended. I got both when I was in high school because my grandmother, who loved words, died. And I was the one chosen to go to her apartment and clear out the books, so I got first dibs. I picked up The Superior Person's Book of Words, and then saw that there was second. I took them home and read them, laughed heartily, and even actually used some of the words with hilarious results.
P.S. If I remember correctly, there is a bit of "poor taste" humor, but mo...more
P.S. If I remember correctly, there is a bit of "poor taste" humor, but mo...more
One of my best friends gave me this book for my birthday (last year? Or the year before? Sometimes I think I'm a really bad friend) and I've been putting off reading it since I got it because I don't want to be disappointed - somehow I feel like I would be an even worse friend if I didn't like it.
Because I usually find this type of book disappointing. One is fatigued by the endless parade of words, words that will hardly ever be used by anyone, words that if they are ever used will be met with a...more
Because I usually find this type of book disappointing. One is fatigued by the endless parade of words, words that will hardly ever be used by anyone, words that if they are ever used will be met with a...more
Definition of this book = money for old rope. It's a list of what the author says are rare and under-used words with the implication that the reader won't have heard of them. However, anyone who reads relatively widely would have come across most if not all of them.
Each word is accompanied by its meaning and a "humorous" aside on how to use it. These "jokes" would appear to come from the 1950s - in many cases they're sexist and in some cases in poor taste.
Each word is accompanied by its meaning and a "humorous" aside on how to use it. These "jokes" would appear to come from the 1950s - in many cases they're sexist and in some cases in poor taste.
My tattered copy has been picked up more than once by a student looking for a silent reading book in a pinch. Favorite words, Lesion, boondoggle, and palinoia. I know this because that is where the book pops open. Ok it could just be the "L"s "B"s and "P"s.
Read this twice now - it's really funny. I'd forgotten what it was and thought it was another collection of obscure words, but no, it's an incredibly sarky book about being silly and annoying everyone around you with your superior vocabulary. Great fun.
Dipped into this a fair bit. Some of the words I already knew but there were only a handful so I guess that just makes me a tiny bit superior!
I bet you don't know what forniculators are. And no it is not spelled wrong. And no, dictionary.com does not know what the word is! ahaahaa!
Jan 26, 2008
Chriss
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Word lovers
Recommended to Chriss by:
my Dad
You may be raising an eyebrow and wondering what could be so fun about reading a dictionary, but this isn’t your dry and dull New Collegiate or Websters. Superior Person’s Words is written with a tongue-in-cheek wit and eye to the practical. This is one dictionary that doesn’t just tell you definitions for hard words, it gives you practical guidance and creative suggestions for their use; from the insult-obscure to calling in sick, from confusing people to complimenting them.
A full review, with...more
A full review, with...more
in addition to have found several wonderful words 9labile,cacophemism,bumblepuppy)the illustrations are a hoot. This was a fun read.
May 19, 2010
David R. Godine
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
words-and-humor
"Nothing short of a brief dictionary for those who aspire to linguistic snobbery."
—St. Petersburg Times
—St. Petersburg Times
This book is hysterical. I love the way the author takes obscure words and had fun with them
Brilliant fun, especially using a word in a social situation for high entertainment.
Super fun if you like to impress others with a large and tedious vocabulary.
Just plain fun. How else would I ever have learned what a merkin was?
A fun book full of words you'll never use unless you're an asshole.
An essential for the aspiring or accomplished word nerd.
Just for fun.
Good.
These books should *not* be approached as anything even vaguely resembling practical, serious, or useful. They're for play, and do a fantastic job at that.
I love, love, love this little gem of a book. For a while I took it with me everywhere and sniggered at the most inappropriate times. Quirky, snide, sheepish and so underhandedly clever you're left foolishly grinning into space for a good while after putting it down. Then again, if you do that often anyway, this book is the perfect excuse.
view 2 comments
Probably suitable for regifting. An enjoyable enough read, some interesting words, but the commentary was not quite clever enough for me. The author seemed to be trying too hard - these sorts of things need to be more effortless. Does that mean I am superior or not? One needs to know.
Two different friends independently gave me copies of this book as gifts. Hmmm... Does this mean they think I am a superior person, or do they think I THINK I'm a superior person?? Strange... But a neat little smorgasbord of unusual words for word foodies, nevertheless.
Mar 20, 2008
Roland
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
language-and-linguistics
A great collection of odd words that you'll never end up using. Anyone can compile a list of words, but the way Bowler suggest their use for insulting others and his definitions are enough to make this a must read for "word nerds."
My dad rues the day he left this book unhidden. Bowler is the most awesome kind of asshole. You wish you were that clever, and so do I. (Clever enough to write such a book, not clever enough to hide books from an eight year old.)
This is a delightful book. It has a terrific sense of humor about language and about itself. I found myself chortling on almost every page. An excellent book for anybody who loves English words.
Many of the words in here are archaic and rather useless in everyday conversation, but they can sure spice up your writing, lend authenticity to a "period" piece, or just piss people off.
Can't recommend this highly enough. Brilliantly written, and intelligently witty, it is my friend and constant companion in the loo...than which there is no greater praise.
Jan 22, 2008
Laurie Baird
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
those interested in expanding their run of the mill word bank.
So many words, so little time--and infrequent occasion--to use the particularly peculiar or delightfully delicious-- yet mostly obscure-- vocabulary introduced.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
