Language Humor

A new collection from David Sedaris is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris has inspired hilarious pieces, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration. You Cant Kill the Rooster is a portrait of his brother who talks incessant...

A master class in the art of persuasion, as taught by professors ranging from Bart Simpson to Winston Churchill, newly revised and updated. The time-tested secrets taught in this book include Cicero's three-step strategy for moving an audience to action, and Honest Abe's Shameless Trick for...

''A must read! If you want to get your Cajun on, you’ve got to read John Gravois’ fabulous little book,'' says Ken Wells, ex-Wall Street Journal writer and Page One editor, and author of Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou' and the Cajun classic coming-of-age novel, 'Meely LaBauve. "It’s fun, factual and full of history, Cajun idioms and their pronunciations. This authentic son of the bayou does a huge service in compact form by helping to illuminate a culture that remains Even if you don't speak a word of French now, with this Berlitz phrase book parody you’ll be able to answer, ...

Not only do Southerners talk slowly, but sometimes the whole language is hard to understand. No one realizes that more than Memphis belle Leelee Satterfield. Watching her tackle life and love in Vermont was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to antics, charades, mischief, and romance. Now that she’s back in Memphis, and starting a new relationship with Peter, the Yankee chef from her New England inn, you’d think she’d sit back and enjoy her newly crafted life back home in Dixie. But that just wouldn’t be as much fun.

Harness the power of silence and let your presence speak volumes. Words matter but your body language speaks loud and clear without them. It’s what you’re not saying out loud that matters most. Before you open your mouth, your microexpressions, posture, gestures, and even the tilt of your...

An out-of-work actor accepts the role of a lifetime—sitting soundlessly in a lecture theater, zipped into a large leather bag—to aid a professor’s psychological experiment. What could possibly go wrong? In Luke Kennard’s audacious new novel, a penniless and out-of-work actor picks up a...

From the celebrated twenty-nine-year-old author of the everywhere-heralded short-story collection St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (“How I wish these were my own words, instead of the breakneck demon writer Karen Russell’s . . . Run for your life. This girl is on fire”—Los...

With his trademark humor and flair, bestselling linguist John McWhorter busts the myths and shares the history of the most controversial language topic of our times: pronouns The nature of language is to shift and evolve—but every so often, a new usage creates a whole lot of consternation...

Dreyer’s English meets Schott’s Original Miscellany in this delicious tour of the lesser-known wonders of the language world, perfect for language lovers, word nerds, and the incurably curious. A delightful rollick through language unlike any you’ve ever experienced. As the inventor of the...

Teach your child patience! * * * * * * * * * "You forgot the mail?" The king yelled at the snail. But the snail stayed as calm as could be. He was not afraid of the king, you see. He knew where the gift was; he knew what to do. The monsters learned that patience pays off too. We are all familiar with the phenomenon of children wanting everything "here and now". This story describes just such a situation. I hope you and your children will enjoy it and learn from it. 子どもたちに辛抱について教えてくれる１冊！ 「郵便を忘れただと？」王様はカタツムリ君に...

Gothic romance at its most unhinged—now without the Victorian sentence structure from hell. What's a Sweary Classic? The complete original story—same plot, same characters, same emotional devastation—just translated into modern, hilarious, sweary language that doesn't require a literature degree to understand. Think: all the moors, revenge, and toxic romance, zero Victorian torture. Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff are obsessed with each other in the most destructive way possible—think soulmates if soulmates were also each other's worst enemies. They grew up together on the ...

Hey, y’all. Welcome to the South! Viral sensation and TikToker Landon Bryant (@LandonTalks) presents his tongue-in-cheek “anthropological dive” into the food, fashion, linguistics, culture, holidays, and traditions of the American South. “Let’s discuss . . .” These two words began...

A cult classic and Los Angeles Times Book of the Year, this sharp, insightful novel by New Yorker contributor Han Ong explores racial and social hierarchy, personal identity, and alienation. William Paulinha—a resourceful gay Filipino sex worker barely getting by in New York—is determined to...

For readers of Shark Heart and Hollow Kingdom, a funny, magical, and tender novel following a lonely, conflict-averse man whose sudden ability to understand animals sends him on a wild romp around NYC, and ultimately helps him discover his own voice. Strolling through Central Park on a blind...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Award-winning actor Alan Alda tells the fascinating story of his quest to learn how to communicate better, and to teach others to do the same. With his trademark humor and candor, he explores how to develop empathy as the key factor. “Invaluable.”—Deborah...

WHY, after almost five million years, did our early ancestors suddenly believe they had to alter their very beings and their way of life to achieve the spoken word…something they’d never heard, had no knowledge of and had no reason to believe they needed?

One of Charles Bukowski's best, this beer-soaked, deliciously degenerate novel follows the wanderings of aspiring writer Henry Chinaski across World War II-era America. Deferred from military service, Chinaski travels from city to city, moving listlessly from one odd job to another, always...

As the main spoken language of the Jews for more than a thousand years, Yiddish has had plenty to lament, plenty to conceal. Its phrases and expressions paint a comprehensive picture of the mind-set that enabled the Jews of Europe to survive persecution: they never stopped kvetching about God...

A hilarious and incisive exploration of the joys of reading from a teacher, bibliophile, and Thurber Prize Semifinalist We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a...

There are dirty jokes, and then there are jokes so depraved, so awful, so disturbed that even the raunchiest comic wouldn’t dare tell them. These are those jokes. These are the filthiest jokes ever told. This book is full of jokes that use the most taboo subjects – disgusting bodily functions, shockingly illicit sex, revolting acts with animals -- to make the reader simultaneously laugh and cringe. But this book goes beyond sharing jokes so filthy that no reputable person would be caught reading it. Professional comedians teach you tricks and techniques to write, deliver, and land a ...