Game of Words

by Willard R. Espy

Attention language lovers: prepare to be taken prisoner. Willard R. Espy, word gamester extraordinaire, has put together more than 200 sublimely satisfying diversions -- including acrostics, clerihews, epigrams, cryptograms, spoonerisms, palindromes, puns, and much, much more. Presented here are the wildest array of tongue twisters, brainteasers, and other mind-benders new and old, along with notes on their histories, tips on how to play them or solve them, and page after page of mind-boggling challenges you won't find anywhere else. It is a celebration of the energy, wit, flexibility, and fun of the English language by its most ardent aficionado.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Willard Richardson Espy was a U.S. editor, philologist, writer, and poet.

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an element of the heavenly bliss for lovers of wordplay. It is generally a collection of items that were first published elsewhere, the acknowledgements run to two full pages. Nearly every form and context of wordplay is used, from puns to satire and from games to inscriptions on tombstones.
Two short favorites refer to the deceased.

On Jonathan Fiddle:
On the 22nd of June Jonathan Fiddle went out of tune.

On Frank Pixley, editor:
Here lies Frank Pixley, as usual. Ambrose Bierce

If all you possess is the barest of interest in wordplay, this is still a book that you will find delightful.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book for anyone who wants to know more about the "freakishness and fun of the English language..."

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

That's 3.5 stars. I definitely enjoyed what I understood. I read it all the way through, but it might serve better as simply a fun coffee table book.

[James Swenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's some interesting wordplay here, but the best part of this book is the foreword. I'd recommend reading that, then leaving your copy on the toilet tank.