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Crazy English
In what other language, asks Lederer, do people drive on a parkway and park in a driveway, and your nose can run and your feet can smell? In CRAZY ENGLISH, Lederer frolics through the logic-boggling byways of our language, discovering the names for phobias you didn't know you could have, the longest words in our dictionaries, and the shortest sentence containing every letter in the alphabet. You'll take a bird's-eye view of our beastly language, feast on a banquet of mushrooming food metaphors, and meet the self-reflecting Doctor Rotcod, destined to speak only in palindromes.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
39 people are currently reading
529 people want to read
About the author
Richard Lederer
86 books67 followersRichard Lederer is the author of more than 35 books about language, history, and humor, including his best-selling Anguished English series and his current book, The Gift of Age. He has been profiled in magazines as diverse as The New Yorker, People, and the National Enquirer and frequently appears on radio as a commentator on language. He has been named International Punster of the Year and Toastmasters International's Golden Gavel winner.
He is the father of author and poet Katy Lederer and poker players Howard Lederer and Annie Duke.
He is the father of author and poet Katy Lederer and poker players Howard Lederer and Annie Duke.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
April 14, 2024
Honestly, I had not gotten very far into Richard Lederer’s Crazy English when I felt so painfully bored and annoyed with the author (or rather with the chief compiler) and his general attitudes and rather full of himself assertions that I decided to stop reading and find myself something both more interesting and above all less imbued with holier than thous, with untruths and mistakes. For indeed, the constant and often imbued with a rather wilful textual arrogance authorial pontifications about how special and as such totally unique amongst the languages of the world English somehow is supposed to be has both very thoroughly and very lastingly frustrated and infuriated me. Because albeit it is of course and indeed true that English presents some unique features (such as for example a tendency to irony and many vagrancies of spelling and pronunciation) the truth of the matter is that EVERY language of the world is unique and includes features that are or can be deemed eccentric, strange and sometimes mysterious. And for Richard Lederer to claim otherwise, for him to insist that English somehow rests on a pedestal with regard to linguistic and morphological uniqueness, well, in my humble opinion that is at best totally, painfully and laughably naive and at worst, yet another sad case of what I tend to label an English language superiority complex.
One star, and absolutely NOT recommended is Crazy English (and yes, the one chapter I did peruse and dissect with a proverbial fine toothed comb contains in my opinion far too many mistakes and claims that just do not make sense, that do not show English words as being all that unique and one of a kind, such as for example, when Richard Lederer claims that calling guinea pigs pigs is uniquely English, since well, I have news for him that in German, guinea pigs are called Meerschweinchen which roughly translates as little pigs of the sea, as ocean piggies).
One star, and absolutely NOT recommended is Crazy English (and yes, the one chapter I did peruse and dissect with a proverbial fine toothed comb contains in my opinion far too many mistakes and claims that just do not make sense, that do not show English words as being all that unique and one of a kind, such as for example, when Richard Lederer claims that calling guinea pigs pigs is uniquely English, since well, I have news for him that in German, guinea pigs are called Meerschweinchen which roughly translates as little pigs of the sea, as ocean piggies).
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May 29, 2014In what other language, asks Lederer, do people drive on a parkway and park in a driveway, and your nose can run and your feet can smell? In CRAZY ENGLISH, Lederer frolics through the logic-boggling byways of our language, discovering the names for phobias you didn't know you could have, the longest words in our dictionaries, and the shortest sentence containing every letter in the alphabet. You'll take a bird's-eye view of our beastly language, feast on a banquet of mushrooming food metaphors, and meet the self-reflecting Doctor Rotcod, destined to speak only in palindromes.
December 17, 2015
Not my favorite book about English. I felt that it didn't go enough in depth about the interesting bits (ie: how all these weird words came about) and spent far too long on certain things (ex: food phrases). I'll probably keep it on my shelf for when I want to reference one of the many fabulous words that the book glossed over, but I won't suffer through reading it cover-to-cover again.
December 22, 2008
I love this book. It looks at so many odd things about the English language and exploits them to the fullest degree of humor. To this day I say "foxen" instead of foxes, all because of this book.
January 2, 2021
I'm a language geek so this book was awesome to me.
December 12, 2008
Reads like a list of unusual things about the English language. Doesn't really delve into the origins or history of language, or how terms and phrases are popularized.
September 15, 2018
Palindromes can be very complex!
August 6, 2011
Great read for any word enthusiast!
December 25, 2011
English is a crazy language, and Dr. Lederer shows us how. Recommended for verbophiles of all shapes and sizes.
April 3, 2014
Fun idea: explore the weird & inconsistent nooks and crannies of the English language. But it got tiresome after 50 pages or so.
December 17, 2018
I'd say you'd be a 'nym'phomaniac to love this but that would be terribly wrong! But full of 'nyms' this one is: from bacronyms to tautonyms to eponyms. And a whole lot more of the craziness that is the evolving English Language. I made me frown and laugh out loud and scratch my head and pat my back. It made me feel unschooled at first and finishing, it made me feel accomplished. If there were a book to start a user of the English language on the path of becoming a language enthusiast, this could be it. I enjoyed it thoroughly and have much to share with my students. I want to hug the one who recommended it to me and I want to recommend it to everyone like a gift of a happy hug. Or maybe more of a mad bear hug!
September 3, 2023
I remember liking this book a lot more when I first read it. I definitely had a chuckle over the palindromes and histories of words, but the 5-page list of phobias was unnecessary.
October 29, 2017
This book is a wonderful help for those who enjoy scholorshipanise etymology. the book is very interesting and fun.
The word, "pedague" (pg. 186), is a special slave or servant, tutor, who walks a child to school and back again and sees that the child studies.
The word, "pedague" (pg. 186), is a special slave or servant, tutor, who walks a child to school and back again and sees that the child studies.
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April 12, 2011Been a while since I've read this, and I'll have to go over it to give a detailed critique. The flyleaf deals mostly with oxymorons (don't know if it deals with the word 'oxymoron' itself 'sharp-dull', I make it).
On balance, I think the book is too fast-paced--almost breathless in parts. Some of its information is inaccurate. Some of the supposed oxymorons, for example, are not contradictory, though they might seem so at first blush.
Furthermore, this book is rendered essentially useless as a reference book by the lack of an index.
As a game of wordplay, it's moderately fun--but one can see easily how it might be better done. There's an overall tone of smug cattiness that I never have found amusing.
On balance, I think the book is too fast-paced--almost breathless in parts. Some of its information is inaccurate. Some of the supposed oxymorons, for example, are not contradictory, though they might seem so at first blush.
Furthermore, this book is rendered essentially useless as a reference book by the lack of an index.
As a game of wordplay, it's moderately fun--but one can see easily how it might be better done. There's an overall tone of smug cattiness that I never have found amusing.
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September 30, 2012I loved it, but nothing else quite comes close to the joy to be found within the pages of Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language
April 10, 2007
This was my first encounter with how messed up the English language really is. He pretty much touches on all the essentials: cliches, figures of speech, big words, oxymorons, grammatical structure, etc. A fun and humorous read that I've enjoyed coming back to every so often.
January 1, 2012
The author is an expert at the english language and its strange ways. One of the most amusing parts is a fictional interview with "Farmer Pluribus" who makes unusual plural words. "Foxen in the henhice" is the primary example. My son loved the word with 1913 letters.
March 14, 2013
It's a fantastic book for showing off. The fun facts about language can really develop one's interest in linguistics. What I loved most was the part about the ding-dong theory where the articulation of sing-sang-sung really got me wondering about the magic of language
March 31, 2008
Just as funny as the original.
December 30, 2009
Amusing if not particularly enlightening.
July 28, 2013
s is not a book for everyone. Those who like the bizarre, strange and humorous side of life will love this. I enjoyed reading about our starnge language and sayings.
August 9, 2011
Extremely funny in places, but the long lists are a bit tedious
January 21, 2016
This book is sort of old that I read during high school. Basically, it's full of amusing and absurd qualities that the English language has. It's funny.
September 18, 2017
Recommended only for those who like analyzing the English language. I enjoyed a few things in the beginning and not much else.
September 15, 2018
Quite boring and very tedious.
November 14, 2018
Skimread. It's a bit meh.
July 20, 2008
I love all his books, this is no exception.
March 11, 2021
**** What a two-million-word lexicon makes possible! ***
This book is definitely another of Richard Lederer’s gems! While its reading will probably not produce as many chuckles, guffaws, chortles and snickers (to give an example of how the reading of the book influenced the writing of the review!) as the books in the “Anguished English” series, its perusal will engender enjoyment of an entirely different sort: an appreciation of the unique nature and features of the language made possible by its almost-two-million-word vocabulary—far more than any other tongue!
Two examples of how English is a “crazy” language are: why do people drive in a parkway and park in a driveway? And, if adults commit adultery, do infants commit infantry?
And that is just the beginning of the wonders contained within this volume. There are sections on redundancies, oxymorons (“open secret”, “baby grand”, “plastic silverware”); extremely long words (“antidisestablishmentarianism” is far from the longest, believe it or not!); phobias (many this reviewer had never heard of, including geliophobia, fear of laughter—those afflicted by it should steer clear of this book—and placophobia, fear of tombstones); different “nyms” (such as euonyms, exonyms, and eponyms, which are brand names that have come to be used in a generic sense, such as Kleenex or Band-Aids); heteronyms (words spelled the same as other words but with different pronunciations and meanings, such as “bow”, “row” and “sow”).
There are also sections on paradoxes and contradictions in spelling and pronunciation; rhyming; alliteration and assonance; and anagrams and palindromes (words or phrases spelled the same forwards or backwards, such as “Madam in Eden, I’m Adam” or “Able was I ere I saw Elba”).
All in all this book is a wonderful testimony to the author’s lifelong love for, and study of, the English language, and reading it would be a wonderful way for anyone to increase his or her appreciation of it, especially if learned as a second or third tongue. Highly recommended!
**** review by Chuck Graham ****
This book is definitely another of Richard Lederer’s gems! While its reading will probably not produce as many chuckles, guffaws, chortles and snickers (to give an example of how the reading of the book influenced the writing of the review!) as the books in the “Anguished English” series, its perusal will engender enjoyment of an entirely different sort: an appreciation of the unique nature and features of the language made possible by its almost-two-million-word vocabulary—far more than any other tongue!
Two examples of how English is a “crazy” language are: why do people drive in a parkway and park in a driveway? And, if adults commit adultery, do infants commit infantry?
And that is just the beginning of the wonders contained within this volume. There are sections on redundancies, oxymorons (“open secret”, “baby grand”, “plastic silverware”); extremely long words (“antidisestablishmentarianism” is far from the longest, believe it or not!); phobias (many this reviewer had never heard of, including geliophobia, fear of laughter—those afflicted by it should steer clear of this book—and placophobia, fear of tombstones); different “nyms” (such as euonyms, exonyms, and eponyms, which are brand names that have come to be used in a generic sense, such as Kleenex or Band-Aids); heteronyms (words spelled the same as other words but with different pronunciations and meanings, such as “bow”, “row” and “sow”).
There are also sections on paradoxes and contradictions in spelling and pronunciation; rhyming; alliteration and assonance; and anagrams and palindromes (words or phrases spelled the same forwards or backwards, such as “Madam in Eden, I’m Adam” or “Able was I ere I saw Elba”).
All in all this book is a wonderful testimony to the author’s lifelong love for, and study of, the English language, and reading it would be a wonderful way for anyone to increase his or her appreciation of it, especially if learned as a second or third tongue. Highly recommended!
**** review by Chuck Graham ****
September 27, 2022
This would have been better as a blog, if only it hadn't been published in 1989.
I enjoyed it but it also go tedious. The chapters were short and the early ones had lists of words. Then stretched his creative muscles and challenged himself to draft paragraphs around the theme of the chapter; all the phrases we have that refer to animals, to the body, onomatopoeic words, alliteration, and rhymes. Paragraphs that don't quite make sense but we can follow along anyway.
It was fun word nerd book but I find that I prefer books that dig into the etymology or semantic shifts of words and phrases more than simply presenting the oddities of English spelling and the like.
I enjoyed it but it also go tedious. The chapters were short and the early ones had lists of words. Then stretched his creative muscles and challenged himself to draft paragraphs around the theme of the chapter; all the phrases we have that refer to animals, to the body, onomatopoeic words, alliteration, and rhymes. Paragraphs that don't quite make sense but we can follow along anyway.
It was fun word nerd book but I find that I prefer books that dig into the etymology or semantic shifts of words and phrases more than simply presenting the oddities of English spelling and the like.
October 20, 2025
Very interesting book about the English language. Lots of unknown facts, trivia and the craziness of the language, that has reached every corner of the globe, written in a very humorous manner. Different perspectives and dimensions of the language that keeps transforming through the ages. the author has beautifully explained how the words of the language have transformed in meaning and respect from what it was during the Anglo-Saxon times, to the Shakespearean times and then to the modern times. An interesting book for anyone who wants to learn about the English language!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews