Esar's Comic Dictionary

by Evan Esar

Provides humorous and tongue-in-cheek definitions for thousands of common English words and expressions

668 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1943

About the author

Evan Esar (1899–1995) was an American humorist who wrote Esar's Comic Dictionary 1943, "Humorous English" in 1961, and 20,000 Quips and Quotes in 1968. He is known for quotes like "Statistics: The only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions." He also wrote The Legend of Joe Miller, which was privately printed for members of the Roxburghe Club of San Francisco by the Grabhorn Press in 1957.

His quotes are commonly found in Crossword puzzles.

Reviews

[Bob]

I first got this book in 1983, when it was already 40 years old.

Although a First Edition, it's collector status was ruined because, instead of sealing it in a plastic bag, I carried this with me for several years in my school pack, so I'd always have it handy during breaks and recess.

A few months ago, I pulled "Esar's Comic Dictionary" off the shelf to quote in a blog post; see www.peeniewallie.com/2009/04/happy-tax-giving-day.html

It's as funny today as it was 26 years ago, or even 66 years ago.

It's amazing how many of the jokes and stereotypes hold up over time.

If you have not read it, this book is a real dictionary, making it easy to browse at leisure rather than having to read it from cover-to-cover. For that reason, it will always remain on my "currently reading" shelf.

[Akan Aglass]

Fantastic! It give one another meaning to life.