Completely Superior Person's Book Of Words

by Peter Bowler

'Words are not only tools; they are also weapons.' This volume provides words to help you wriggle out of sticky debates, deal with obnoxious dinner guests and fill in sick leave application forms with panache. It is an arsenal of over a thousand sonifacient verbal weapons with which to verbigerate your friends and gorgonise your enemies.

• ISBN13: 9781408806357
• Publish Date: 2 November 2009
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Imprint: Bloomsbury
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

I love this.  It's not at all what I expected, but it's better.  What I was expecting was a narrative of larger words and their meanings but what I actually got was a dictionary of big words, with definitions meant to be witty and sarcastic, with usage suggestions for making you look pompous and as the title promises, superior.  It's hilarious.

An example from just randomly opening a page:

Infundibular: a.:  Why say 'funnel-shaped' when you can say 'infundibular'?

or 

nugatory: a. Of no value, trifling, insubstantial, pointless.  Unfavorable criticism of the present book could properly be so categorized.

or lastly: 

ponophobia: n. A morbid dread of work. Think about it.  A civil servant could get a whole lifetime's sick leave out of this.

These aren't even the best ones - just the first ones I found while writing this.  It's fun, it's educational and it was a wonderful surprise on the sale table.