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The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook: Updated! New Entries!
Newly expanded and up-to-the-minute, a bestselling guide to survival in multicultural America in the sensitive 1990s. Includes even more real and satirical definitions to help keep thought cops away. Illustrated throughout.
- GenresHumorReferenceNonfiction
194 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
4 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Henry N. Beard
61 books38 followersHenry N. Beard (born ca. 1945) is an American humorist, one of the founders of the magazine National Lampoon and the author of several best-selling books.
Beard, a great-grandson of Vice President John C. Breckinridge, was born into a well-to-do family and grew up at the Westbury Hotel on East 69th Street in Manhattan. His relationship with his parents was cool, to judge by his quip "I never saw my mother up close."
He attended the Taft School, where he was a leader at the humor magazine, and he decided to become a humorous writer after reading Catch-22.
He then went to Harvard University from which he graduated in 1967 and joined its humor magazine, the Harvard Lampoon, which circulated nationally. Much of the credit for the Lampoon's success during the mid 1960s is given to Beard and Douglas Kenney, who was in the class a year after Beard's. In 1968, Beard and Kenney wrote the successful parody Bored of the Rings.
In 1969, Beard, Kenney and Rob Hoffman became the founding editors of the National Lampoon, which reached a monthly circulation of over 830,000 in 1974 (and the October issue of that year topped a million sales). One of Beard's short stories published there, "The Last Recall", was included in the 1973 Best Detective Stories of the Year. During the early 1970s, Beard was also in the Army Reserve, which he hated.
In 1975 the three founders cashed in on a buy-out agreement for National Lampoon; and Beard left the magazine. After an "unhappy" attempt at screenwriting, he turned to writing humorous books.
Beard, a great-grandson of Vice President John C. Breckinridge, was born into a well-to-do family and grew up at the Westbury Hotel on East 69th Street in Manhattan. His relationship with his parents was cool, to judge by his quip "I never saw my mother up close."
He attended the Taft School, where he was a leader at the humor magazine, and he decided to become a humorous writer after reading Catch-22.
He then went to Harvard University from which he graduated in 1967 and joined its humor magazine, the Harvard Lampoon, which circulated nationally. Much of the credit for the Lampoon's success during the mid 1960s is given to Beard and Douglas Kenney, who was in the class a year after Beard's. In 1968, Beard and Kenney wrote the successful parody Bored of the Rings.
In 1969, Beard, Kenney and Rob Hoffman became the founding editors of the National Lampoon, which reached a monthly circulation of over 830,000 in 1974 (and the October issue of that year topped a million sales). One of Beard's short stories published there, "The Last Recall", was included in the 1973 Best Detective Stories of the Year. During the early 1970s, Beard was also in the Army Reserve, which he hated.
In 1975 the three founders cashed in on a buy-out agreement for National Lampoon; and Beard left the magazine. After an "unhappy" attempt at screenwriting, he turned to writing humorous books.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 9, 2024
Apart from just being funny, this book also provides an interesting outlook on how language is used in manipulation - in military reports war crimes can be reported as armed reconnaissance, destabilization, preemptive counterattacks... The book also shows how adhering to very strict "politically correct" verbiage just ends up being insanely racist. The funniest/scariest part though? This book is from 1994. And some of the words listed here for entertainment purposes have actually entered general use...
I appreciate the book citing it sources (extensively, the last 40 or so pages are just the notes) but I was less happy about some entries repeating themselves in the various sections (the purpose of which I didn't really understand in the first place)
I appreciate the book citing it sources (extensively, the last 40 or so pages are just the notes) but I was less happy about some entries repeating themselves in the various sections (the purpose of which I didn't really understand in the first place)
July 1, 2022
What I liked about this is that it's proof that political correctness has been around longer than people seem to think (AKA roughly 2015) and that the majority of definitions came from outside sources and were things that people had actually said. Apparently, Smith College is having a crisis of ideology. The downside was that, since this is a dictionary, it's just not very fun to read.
September 17, 2023
Gifting to Sean Murphy.
October 3, 2015
Another amazing book by Henry Beard; loved every page of this book. For a mundane work assignment, I took apart this book and stuffed as many words as I could into the assignment. Undoubtably I got the top mark, but phone calles flooded my boss's phone as people were trying to figure out if I actually spoke so eloquently! Good times!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews