(concepts, subjects and nonsense)
(page numbers in boldface italic indicate entries where the indexed item is a primary subject)
60 Minutes, 171 A Is for Alibi, 185
A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y, 188, 190, 191
AAAQOWJIFLQWIUZZZJRHA, 203 Abbott and Costello, 50 ABCs, 183
abecedarianisms, 181 Academie Francais, 186 acronym, 54, 55, 56, 57, 64 a recent phenomenon, 56 byte probably is not an, 71 facetious concoctions, 56 golf is not an, 60 gorp is not an, 64 its own false history, 58 military and technological sources, 57 nautical sources, 58 news is not an, 64 of proper names, 57 posh is not an, 59 shit is not an, 54 sic is not an, 66
suspicious traits, 57 the F-word is not an, 61 tips is not an, 65 acronymania, 54 Acronymity, Rules of, 56 Almanac of Words at Play, 224 America (the rock band, which has more Top 40 hits than America the country), 201
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 225 American Idol, 151 American Lit Relit, 223 American vs. British English, 113 ampersand, 188
Angels of Los Angeles, Anaheim, 30
Anglo-French, 178
Anglo-Norman, 163
Anglo-Saxon, 164,178, 183
Anguished English, 224
Annette (well, Funicello, of course), 51
apostrophes, 37
Apprentice, The, 93
Arabic, 30, 32,150,155
Arabic numerals, 32, 150 Arafat, Yasser, 17 Arawak, 89 Armour, Richard, 223 Arouet, Francois Marie, 98 Arthur, King, 195 Asimov, Isaac, 71 Astaire, Fred, 205 Attila the Hun, 92 Australian Aborigine, 70 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 28 Aymara, 22 B Is for Burglar, 185 “Ballad of Gilligan’s Island, The,” 132 Ballyhoo, Buckaroo and Spuds, 87, 224 Barnette, Martha, 225 Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, The, 71
Baron Munchhausen's Narrative of His Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia, 75 Barry, Dave, 223 bartleby.com, 225 Batman, 40 Beatles, the, 140,189 Beowulf 219 Best, Pete, 189 Bible, 72
Bierce, Ambrose, 41, 181, 193, 215 Big Box of Paints, 10 Black Death, the, 18 Bloomer, Amelia, 86 Blooming English, 205
blush blush, 54, 61 Bono, Sonny, 101 Bontius, Jacobus, 22 Booz, E.C., 84 Bowdler, Thomas, 85 bowling, 140 Boycott, Charles, 85 Brenan, Gerald, 35 Brenner, Yul, 146,147 British, 163
British vs. American English, 113 Britney (I do mention her, but I’m embarrassed by doing so, so I won’t tell you where)
Browser's Dictionary, A, 59 Brudenell, James Thomas, 86 bubonic plague, 18 Buchholz, Dr. Werner, 71 bullshittemet, 1, 9, 19, 57, 68 , 79,101 Burgess, Anthony, 165 Bums, George, 146 Burns, Robert, 103 Burridge, Kate, 205 Burton, Tim, 40 Byrd, Robert, 101 Byron, Lord, 31, 75 Calvin & Hobbes, 115 Calvin, John, 115 CANOE, or the Conspiracy to Attribute Nautical Origins to Everything, 15, 58 Canterville Ghost, The, 114 Carlin, George, 168 Carver, Craig M., 224
Casper (the friendly but really really dead ghost), 90 catapulting of cows, 196 Cawdrey, Robert, 70, 185 Celsius, Anders, 198 Charge of the Light Brigade, 86 Charles II, 93
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 35,122,124, 178, 196
Chauvin, Nicolas, 85 Chekhov, Anton, 98 Chile, 22 Chinook, 129 chitchattemet, 1, 211 Christ, Jesus, 12, 101 Christian Science Monitor, The, 100 Christie, Agatha, 193 Churchill Preposition Witticism Generator, 108, 112, 113 Churchill, Winston, 108, 112,113 Ciardi, John, 59 Claiborne, Robert, 224 Clapton, Eric, 200 Clark, Dick, 103 Classics Reclassified, The, 223 Cleese, John, 195
cliches, 15, 35, 40, 97, 99, 100, 107, 198
Clockwork Orange, A, 165 Clune, Frank, 115 Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, 79 Cockeram, Henry, r86 Comite international des poids et measures, 199
comma faults, 172 concision, 97 Condom, Dr., 84
Conference generate des poids et mesures, 199
“Conjunction Junction,” 52 conjunctions, 51 Cosby, Bill, 105 Cosell, Howard, 61 Country Joe McDonald & the Fish, 61 Crapper, Thomas, 84 Creedence Clearwater Revival, 200 Crystal, David, 151, 224 dangers of speaking English, 96 Dark Knight, The, 40 dashes, 166 debonair baldness, 147 Deceptionary, English, 5 Dekker, Thomas, 101 Derrick, Thomas, 85 Devil’s Dictionary, The, 41,181, 193 Devious Derivations, 59, 224 Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, 33, 107
Dictionary of the English Language, A, 7, 24, 70,197
DIICFOWMETGMAFOMP, 216 Disparition, La, 69 Disraeli, Benjamin, 75 donee words, 1 Donne, John, 33, 107 double negative, 115, 122 Dr Goodword, 207 Dr. Dolittle, 175
2j6
Bill Brohaugh
Dryden, John, 31
Dumbass! (I don’t make this stuff up—well, not all of it), 200 Dungeon Runners, 33 Dutch, 90 Dylan, Bob, 200 Eats, Shoots and Leaves, 124 Edison, Thomas, 87 editorial we, 41 Edwards, Davis, 101 Egyptian, 213 “Eleanor,” 146 Elyot, Sir Thomas, 70 em dash, 167 emoticons, 213 en dash, 167
ending a sentence with a preposition,