From aboiement to zooerastia, a guided tour of the lantrified underbelly of the English language
This unusual, un-put-downable little volume by Peter Novobatzky and Ammon Shea collects more than three hundred of the English language's most disgusting, offensive, and obscene words--words that have fallen out of common usage but will no doubt delight, amuse, and in some cases prove surprisingly useful. Who hasn't searched for the right word to describe a colleague's maschalephidrosis (runaway armpit perspiration), a boss's pleonexia (insane greed), or a buddy's fumosities (ill-smelling vapors from a drunken person's belches)?
Word lovers, chronic insulters, berayers, bescumbers, and bespewers need feel like tongue-tied witlings no more: Finding the correct, keck-inspiring word just got a whole lot easier with Depraved English.
"Depraved English is anything but depraved. Don't believe the title. It's a book on language you can read on subway, bus, and plane--though you have to be ready for surprised looks when you laugh out loud or give little yelps of joy. Your choller will wobble as you pick at your gound and, ever after, flat English will give you an attact of rectalgia. If someone is majoring in English, give him or
Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes and 'Tis.
"Delicious and disgusting by turns, Depraved English is an invaluable and cleverly worked vade mecum for those millions of us who (a) are fascinated by sex and (b) enjoy insulting people. No intelligent home should be without it."
Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman
