Fractured English

by Richard Lederer, Dave Morice (Illustrator)

"Perhaps no one has more fun with the English language than Richard Lederer", says Ann Lloyd Merriman of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Now columnist and bestselling author Lederer presents another uncut, unpolished, and certifiably authentic collection of language blunders. Fractured English will leave word lovers roaring with laughter.

Genres: Language, Humor, Nonfiction, Writing

185 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1996

About the author

Richard 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.

Reviews

[Barb H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lederer certainly has his way with words! This is the perfect book for a lover of language and words. It is amusing and informative.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve managed to accumulate four books by Richard Lederer that I’ve owned for some time with only a vague notion that they’re about the English language. So as part of my library weeding project, I thought it was time to actually read one.

Fractured English is a collection of English language errors. They’re all meant to be humorous, and I did find some funny ones. Lederer does a good job organizing the material by theme. There are errors made by school kids and doctors and in courts of law, sections on newspaper errors, international errors by non-native speakers, and dangling modifiers.

It’s the kind of book only a grammar snob would love. I don’t consider myself a grammar snob, but I do work as an editor, and for me this book felt a little too much like work, reading to spot the error in sentence after sentence after sentence. I do that all day, so it’s not as fun for me as it may be for another reader. I could only handle a few pages at a time, so it took a while for me to get through this. It’s a little dated, but overall holds up and is worth flipping through for the right kind of reader.

[Jean Graham]

This is the third volume in Richard Lederer’s marvelously hilarious series of collections of fluffs, flubs, misplaced modifiers, malapropisms, mistranslations, hopelessly mixed metaphors, and double-entendres, all made possible by the peculiarities of the English language (the other two being “Anguished English” and “More Anguished English”). Most of them were sent to him by enthusiastic readers of the first two volumes, which are the most popular and best-selling of his long list of titles. Please see my review of “More Anguished English” for a summary and discussion of what all these books contain. The author spent his career in the field of linguistics and his delight in the English language (and, indeed, in language in general) is evident on every page. He continues to turn out new books all the time and to publish a weekly column in many newspapers.

**** review by Chuck Graham ****