The superior person's book of words (original 1979; edition 2002)

I do not remember the last time I found the premise of a book to be so off-putting. From the outset, the author states his purpose quite plainly: “Words are not only tools; they are also weapons. The first object of this book is to provide the ordinary man in the street with new and better verbal weapons.” Really? A volume devoted to introducing readers to archaic, little-used words with which they can humiliate and belittle their friends and colleagues? It has been a while since I read Dante, but I think he designated one of the nines circles in the Inferno to people who do things like this.

After introducing many of the words—which are conveniently placed in alphabetical order, although this book falls far short of qualifying as a dictionary—Fowler instructs us on how to best use them to our advantage. For instance, after defining ‘noisome’ as noxious or smelly, he notes that “Much quiet satisfaction can be derived from putting your head around the door of your younger brother’s room, saying ‘It’s rather noisome in here, isn’t it’ and hearing him turn down his stereo as you go on your way.” Hilarious, absolutely hilarious!

Ultimately, this amounts to nothing more than a silly little book of synonyms for words and expressions that are conveyed more simply and effectively thousands of times every single day. Is the goal of such a list to improve our collective speech by making it more colorful or precise? Hardly. Here is the author’s entire entry for ‘mucilage’: “The Superior Person does not use gum, glue, or paste. He or she uses mucilage.” Superior, indeed. ( )

Very Useful

Words

A short dictionary of obscure English words, with suggestions on how to use them to impress, tease and baffle others. Humourous, but rather silly. ( )