Depraved English [Hardcover]

Peter Novobatzky (Author), Ammon Shea (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312207735 | ISBN-13: 978-0312207731 | Publication Date: August 1, 1999 | Edition: 1st

From aboiement to zooerastia, a guided tour of the lantrified underbelly of the English langauage

This unusual, un-put-downable little volume collects more than three hundred of the English language's most disgusting, offensive, and obscene words--words that have fallen out of common usage but will no doubt delight, amuse, and in some cases prove surprisingly useful. Who hasn't searched for the right word to describe a colleague's maschalephidrosis (runaway armpit perspiration), a boss's pleonexia (insane greed), or a buddy's fumosities (ill-smelling vapors from a drunken person's belches)?

Word lovers, chronic insulters, berayers, bescumbers, and bespewers need feel like tongue-tied witlings no more: Finding the correct, keck-inspiring word just got a whole lot easier.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

My husband--I am not pleased to say--and a college friend used to get a lot of mileage out of the fact that they were the only two people on earth who seemed to know the meaning of the word callipygian ("having nicely shaped buttocks"). If only Depraved English had been available to them then, they would have had a whole lexicon for their agastopia ("the admiration of a part of someone's body"). But this book isn't just for those who are pygophilous-er, "fond of buttocks." It's the best source out there when you're looking for that special word to describe the involuntary blurting of animal noises (aboiement) or the spit-out juice from chewing tobacco (ambeer). It's also invaluable when you're looking for that perfect term to describe someone who has deep cleavage (bathycolpian), is prone to farting (bdolotic), or has runaway armpit perspiration (maschalephidrosis). Just don't let it fall into the hands of some gambrinous ("full of beer"), college-age gynopipers (they who "stare lewdly at women"). --Jane Steinberg

Review

"Depraved English is anything but depraved. Don't believe the title. It's a book on language you can read on subway, bus, and plane--though you have to be ready for surprised looks when you laugh out loud or give little yelps of joy. Your choller will wobble as you pick at your gound and, ever after, flat English will give you an attact of rectalgia. If someone is majoring in English, give him or her this book. Give it to your Randy grandma."--Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes and 'Tis.

"Delicious and disgusting by turns, Depraved English is an invaluable and cleverly worked vade mecum for those millions of us who (a) are fascinated by sex and (b) enjoy insulting people. No intelligent home should be without it."--Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312207735
• ISBN-13: 978-0312207731
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,406,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book!, November 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Depraved English (Hardcover)

I absolutely love this book! I always knew that there were words out there like this, but I never knew where to find them. I love words, and this was the funniest thing that I've read in years. I'm buying copies for everyone that I know for Christmas.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars lexicography yes, humor no, November 23, 2000

By 

Marty Gardner (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Depraved English (Hardcover)

This book brought me a handful of half-hearted chuckles, but not one serious belly laugh. Beyond the "oh my goodness" smirking over a book containing so many "unmentionables", there just really isn't much to it.

It's a small book, with big type, lots of white space and illustrations, so there aren't really that many words here. And the authors therefore felt the need to pad it further with sample sentences showing the words in "humorous" context. These examples were almost always predictable and rarely added anything to the definition.

"beray /bee RAY/ v. - To splatter with feces. 'After getting berayed yet again, Ted the zookeeper made a grim vow: one day he would get even with those damn monkeys.'"

Did you laugh? I didn't.

This book is all very tasteful and proper - the illustrations are 18th century etchings, the representative characters all named Percy and Roderick - and I found this decidedly boring.

For my money, the British "Roger's Profanisaurus" (available at Amazon.co.uk) left this stilted volume in the dust.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars funny and smart, September 23, 1999

By 

Danielle Friedland (Forest Hills, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Depraved English (Hardcover)

Everyone has, at some point, lost a good chunk of time poring over the dictionary in search of new, unusual and even bizarre. These guys did just that and compiled them. Many of the words are sexual in nature, but not all are sophomoric. What I love about the book is that for each word, they write a sentence or more about that word. Sometimes they put the word in a sentence, to put it in better context, other times they explain it or give you some commentary. The book is both hilarious and serious at the same time. Good intellectual fun, bringing new meaning to "increasing your vocabulary."