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The Foolish Dictionary
This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.
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First published January 1, 1904
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 27, 2017
Humor, not a real dictionary
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This review is from: The Foolish Dictionary An exhausting work of reference to un-certain English words, their origin, meaning, legitimate and illegitimate use, confused by a few pictures [not included] (Kindle Edition)
Good word play humor from 1904 so do not expect it to be "sensitive" by 21st century standards. If you can not stand to read the writing of a past era the way it was, then you should probably read something else. Some of it is useful as a dictionary of sorts for writers. Gideon Wurdz is the pen name of Charles Wayland Towne. This review is from the free kindle edition released March 24, 2011.
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Foolish Dictionary An exhausting work of reference to un-certain English words, their origin, meaning, legitimate and illegitimate use, confused by a few pictures [not included] (Kindle Edition)
Good word play humor from 1904 so do not expect it to be "sensitive" by 21st century standards. If you can not stand to read the writing of a past era the way it was, then you should probably read something else. Some of it is useful as a dictionary of sorts for writers. Gideon Wurdz is the pen name of Charles Wayland Towne. This review is from the free kindle edition released March 24, 2011.
September 10, 2023
Technically this book was a bit of a humor flop for me but there were definitely some parts that did have me giggling, agreeing with the author's insights even if outdated and just enjoying myself while sharing portions with an unfortunate spouse, sister or coworker(s). But I will give the book a bit of the doubt on this one to put it into the Humor pile instead of Failed Humor.
The Foolish Dictionary isn't technically a reference book nor should be relied on to be as such. But even if it had been a reference book at the time of its release it is well outdated by this point with over a century tucked into its belt thus the book relies on some of its humor coming from topics that the modern reader may not know anything about as well as including information we now deem to be racist, sexist, ageist and abusive to all parties of innocence whether children or animals. Even with as accepting as we try to be in our household my husband was shocked by some of the sentiments that can be found in the entries.
For the rest of the book, though, it is set-up in a dictionary format with each letter being visited with most in their own section although some letters have been grouped together to probably cut down on the number of pages. These section starts include two different quotes one above the focal letter and one below while again like the rest of the book the subject matter can be insensitive at times to modern readers. Each entry is provided as it would be in a dictionary with the word being provided then a quick description normally just a sentence long.
Each entry wasn't consistent with the one before it so the reader is getting a bit of mixed bag. You would find the general entry with the word followed by its "definition" and others would repeat the word in lowercase before proceeding, which makes me wonder if these were the ones that may have included the now missing illustrations. Then there were entries that looked to be even more dictionary standard as they had word origins although these aren't to be taken as truthful interpretations and last entries that combined together to make a run off of each other such as:
Rust: Physical dullness
Rustic: Mental dullness
Where this dictionary gets it humor, though, is its usage of puns, homophones, homographs, its truth in some cases even after being outdated for a century and the author's take to make the entry relate in general. Probably my most favorite are the doubles such as displayed previously in the review but a few of the other entries also did stand out.
I do wish that the illustrations had been included just to see how this book was illustrated but I am sure that they would have been even more insensitive than the text that the reader was provided with.
To me this book really should be read by historians who favor the timeframe of the book and can handle the perceived directed humor of the time without insult as they will find points or people that they know such as in my case Carrie Nation, Andrew Carnegie, etc. in an opined record not often shared.
**For readers who would like to view the illustrations that came with this book you can download a copy from https://www.gutenberg.org/. The entries that appear with the strange lowercase repetitive taken in the Kindle version are the ones that are mean to be illustrated while the section heads are provided in a different font as well as size thus making the book about double its Kindle version. As for the missing illustrations they are the standard black-and-white cartoon-types included in political cartoons common around that time with stereotyped portrayals and caricatures.
The Foolish Dictionary isn't technically a reference book nor should be relied on to be as such. But even if it had been a reference book at the time of its release it is well outdated by this point with over a century tucked into its belt thus the book relies on some of its humor coming from topics that the modern reader may not know anything about as well as including information we now deem to be racist, sexist, ageist and abusive to all parties of innocence whether children or animals. Even with as accepting as we try to be in our household my husband was shocked by some of the sentiments that can be found in the entries.
For the rest of the book, though, it is set-up in a dictionary format with each letter being visited with most in their own section although some letters have been grouped together to probably cut down on the number of pages. These section starts include two different quotes one above the focal letter and one below while again like the rest of the book the subject matter can be insensitive at times to modern readers. Each entry is provided as it would be in a dictionary with the word being provided then a quick description normally just a sentence long.
Each entry wasn't consistent with the one before it so the reader is getting a bit of mixed bag. You would find the general entry with the word followed by its "definition" and others would repeat the word in lowercase before proceeding, which makes me wonder if these were the ones that may have included the now missing illustrations. Then there were entries that looked to be even more dictionary standard as they had word origins although these aren't to be taken as truthful interpretations and last entries that combined together to make a run off of each other such as:
Rust: Physical dullness
Rustic: Mental dullness
Where this dictionary gets it humor, though, is its usage of puns, homophones, homographs, its truth in some cases even after being outdated for a century and the author's take to make the entry relate in general. Probably my most favorite are the doubles such as displayed previously in the review but a few of the other entries also did stand out.
I do wish that the illustrations had been included just to see how this book was illustrated but I am sure that they would have been even more insensitive than the text that the reader was provided with.
To me this book really should be read by historians who favor the timeframe of the book and can handle the perceived directed humor of the time without insult as they will find points or people that they know such as in my case Carrie Nation, Andrew Carnegie, etc. in an opined record not often shared.
**For readers who would like to view the illustrations that came with this book you can download a copy from https://www.gutenberg.org/. The entries that appear with the strange lowercase repetitive taken in the Kindle version are the ones that are mean to be illustrated while the section heads are provided in a different font as well as size thus making the book about double its Kindle version. As for the missing illustrations they are the standard black-and-white cartoon-types included in political cartoons common around that time with stereotyped portrayals and caricatures.
June 23, 2025
1904 yılında ABD'de yayımlanan bir mizahi sözlük olduğunu söyleyerek başlayayım. Ambrose Bierce'ın ve Flaubert'in sözlükleriyle aynı dönemin ürünü. Çok komik. Çok ilham verici. Dönüp dönüp okunası. Bebekler için "nocturnal animal" tarifi ile para için yaptığı "bayağılığın haklı çıkarılması" tanımları tek başlarına sözlüğün mizahi edebi kalibresini tanıtmaya yeter. Wurdz (Bildiğim kadarıyla yazarın takma adı) bu eserinde kelimelerin bazılarını İngilizce, Latince veya Almanca vb. olası (şakalı?) kökenlerine ayırarak oradan da mizah çıkarmış. Mesela "isolation" ı Latince ve İngilizce olarak ayırıp "soğukta yalnız kalmak" tarifini bulmuş, şahane. Ülkemizde bu asırlık kitabı ilk yayınlayan Çanakkale'den bir yayıncı. İyi şeyler gerçekten de oluyor bazen. Dilerim Türkçesi de çıkar ve global akılsızlık çağında biraz da "foolish" dozu alırız. İngilizce veya Türkçe, her mizahperver göz atmalı.
May 23, 2018
Foolish dictionary should have clued me in...
An absolutely useless book . A waste of my time. Frustrating as all heck! What ever happened to the dictionaries that can help you out when you need help...
An absolutely useless book . A waste of my time. Frustrating as all heck! What ever happened to the dictionaries that can help you out when you need help...
January 15, 2022
Enjoyable, though must be read with date of publication in mind.
November 17, 2023
Awesome book, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJig1...
May 27, 2025
Hilarious
I thought this book was going to be like a regular dictionary but it fooled me and it turned out to be freaking funny and I would highly recommend it again.
I thought this book was going to be like a regular dictionary but it fooled me and it turned out to be freaking funny and I would highly recommend it again.
February 16, 2015
light short read, entertaining and funny though racist, sexist and politically incorrect in most of the time.
Accident: a condition of affairs in which presence of mind is good but absence of body better.
Bystander: one who is injured in a street fight.
Chump: anyone whose opinion differs radically from ours.
Conscience: the fear of being found out.
Echo: the only thing that can cheat a woman out of the last word.
Forbearance: the spirit of toleration shown when a man who knows patiently listens to a fool who doesn't.
Infant: a disturber of the peace.
Lie: a very poor substitute for the truth but the only one discovered up to date.
Time and tide wait for no man. But time always stands still for a woman of thirty.
Pro & Con: prefixes of opposite meaning. I.e. Progress and Congress.
Resolution: a fragile bit of crockery fashioned on the first day of January and usually broken on the second.
Sandwich: an unsuccessful attempt to make both ends meat.
Sinner: stupid person who gets found out.
War: a wholesale means of making heroes which if planned in a small way would produce only murderers.
Accident: a condition of affairs in which presence of mind is good but absence of body better.
Bystander: one who is injured in a street fight.
Chump: anyone whose opinion differs radically from ours.
Conscience: the fear of being found out.
Echo: the only thing that can cheat a woman out of the last word.
Forbearance: the spirit of toleration shown when a man who knows patiently listens to a fool who doesn't.
Infant: a disturber of the peace.
Lie: a very poor substitute for the truth but the only one discovered up to date.
Time and tide wait for no man. But time always stands still for a woman of thirty.
Pro & Con: prefixes of opposite meaning. I.e. Progress and Congress.
Resolution: a fragile bit of crockery fashioned on the first day of January and usually broken on the second.
Sandwich: an unsuccessful attempt to make both ends meat.
Sinner: stupid person who gets found out.
War: a wholesale means of making heroes which if planned in a small way would produce only murderers.
April 9, 2013
First published on February 14, 2001, The Foolish Dictionary by Gideon Wurdz could have just as easily bore the title of The Dictionary For Fools. With the vast number of words in the English language, the author has no shortage of meat for the pot. Some of the definitions are quite amusing, while others are nothing short of ludicrous. I was struck by its occasional political incorrectness (in race, creed and gender) but soon recovered without losing direction and interest. It isn’t a reference book and can easily be forgotten, as I feel sure was the intent of the author upon writing it. Taken as a whole it is no more and no less than two hours of smiles with an occasional chuckle. Unfortunately tear producing laughter was left out. I can recommend it for light reading, maybe best done in the privacy of the restroom while engaged in more important and necessary activities.
March 23, 2012
This is a sarcastic and racist (although admittedly sometimes witty and more or less a corny attempt) at writing a dictionary.
Let me cite an example of it's racist entry:
Independence - good enough for a Cuban but not for a Filipino.
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title The Foolish Dictionary
Author Gideon Wurdz
Reviewed By Purplycookie
Let me cite an example of it's racist entry:
Independence - good enough for a Cuban but not for a Filipino.
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title The Foolish Dictionary
Author Gideon Wurdz
Reviewed By Purplycookie
November 9, 2012
Agh i love this :D
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews