The Disheveled Dictionary: A Curious Caper Through Our Sumptuous Lexicon

by Karen Elizabeth Gordon

Book Overview

With her signature cache of illustrations and flamboyantly gothic examples, Karen Elizabeth Gordon, who has achieved cult status with her whimsical references, defines an array of daffy, delicious words (Library Journal). In The Disheveled Dictionary Gordon conjures a world of words, their definitions and myriad uses, and along the way invokes favorite characters from earlier books. Gordon's eccentric wit and unique insights take readers on a delightful...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618381961
• ISBN13: 9780618381968
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 162 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The Disheveled Dictionary

Looking for a bowl of quiet cucumber soup? Here it is, a luminous melange of word definitions and usage, mingled with a story line that keeps you turning the pages forward and backward. Join Constanza Zermattress and Vargas Scronx on a stroll through a plethora of outre sentences as examples of word usages.

Disheveled Dictionary Delightful

I've always enjoyed K.E. Gordon's wonderful books on language. Not only are they erudite, they are also very silly, and isn't that the best of combinations? Highly recommended.

Throne reading

If you do not mind chuckling in the throne room, this is ideal for little snippets of whimsy.

A love affair with words

What lovely playthings words are!I enjoyed reviewing old words I've forgotten to use. I spoke them outloud and fell back in love. There are lists of words to wrap around your thoughts and words to find sentances for, words to embrace, and some to abuse, and words for one's private use because no one will ever put them on a billboard.

Delightful Dictionary

Amaze your friends, confound your competitors... you're sure to find a half-dozen or so words that are too good not to sprinkle into daily conversation. Gordon's selective dictionary covers the traditional bases by giving definitions and word origins, and using words in sentences, but any similarity to a conventional dictionary ends there (well, it's in alphabetical order, too). It is Gordon's selection of words and phrases and her inspired illustration of their use that make this little book so thoroughly enjoyable. New (to me) words like "callipygian" and "persiflage" are held up to the light by a variety of eccentric characters and fictional excerpts. Even old favorites and less exotic words are given a fresh coat of varnish in Gordon's baroque treatment. The book ambles, rambles, and diverts itself. A treat for anyone who loves the language. Keep it nearby and browse at random.