Adventures of a Verbivore

by Richard Lederer

The author of Anguished English invites readers on another verbal adventure, in which he offers a plethora of palindromes, groan-inducing puns, malapropisms, and word quizzes, and is told off by a sixth-grader. Reprint.

Genres: Language, Humor, Nonfiction, Reference, Linguistics, School, Words

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1994

About the author

Richard Lederer is the author of more than 35 books about language, history, and humor, including his best-selling Anguished English series and his current book, The Gift of Age. He has been profiled in magazines as diverse as The New Yorker, People, and the National Enquirer and frequently appears on radio as a commentator on language. He has been named International Punster of the Year and Toastmasters International's Golden Gavel winner.

He is the father of author and poet Katy Lederer and poker players Howard Lederer and Annie Duke.

Reviews

[Cat. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather disorganized, but fun to read. He doesn't deal with grammar much, but he talks a lot about this love for words & language, and what sort of experiences that love has led him to. And he's much less rigid about ending sentences with prepositions and "hopefully" (as in "Hopefully, we won't get lost.") than many language folks. Yes!

[Stasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's full of clever wordplay, but not really the kind of book you'd pick up and read all the way through. (In fact, doing that makes the book seem much more annoying than it would otherwise.)

Keep it around and look at it whenever you want to think about language.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lederer is always insightful, and I appreciate his non-authoritarian take on language, but this volume suffers from being a bunch of different essays about a bunch of different things. It has good parts, but without a central theme, it just seems too disjointed.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Lederer's books, and this one gives the exact reason why: I am, indeed, a verbivore.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author does his best to say that English is a dynamic and changing language when it comes to usage and pronunciation. This does not really help me deal with people who persist in misspelling, improper punctuation, and improper pluralization.

[James Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non-stop thrill ride of linguistic fun.