The Illustrated Compendium of Weirdly Specific Words is an illustrated dictionary of the 300+ most specific words in the English language, along with their definitions, roots, and (hilarious) usage quotes! Have you ever been lying in your bed, surrounded by crumbs and wrappers, feasting on your fifth pop tart and thought, I wish there was a word for this? Well, there is! Accubationis - the practice of eating and drinking while lying down. The English language is populated by many words that have a regular place in everyday conversation, and The Illustrated Compendium of Weirdly Specific Words celebrates these words by featuring definitions, origins and usage, and coupling illustrations. Words include: Badling (noun) - a group of ducks. Crapulence (noun) - sickness resulting from eating too much. Guddle (verb) - fishing only with your hands. Kaiju (noun) - A film genre characterized by giant, terrifying monsters. Slugabed (noun) - A lazy person who stays in bed late. Wegotism (noun) - The excessive use of the word ‘we'. With more than 300 insanely specific words, you'd think that you would know a few of them, right? Well, think again! We're willing to wager that you don't know a single one of these words! Unless, of course, you have a special interest in the smell of horse urine (the word for that particular odor is jumentuous). The Illustrated Compendium of Weirdly Specific Words not only captures these words through equally specific illustrations, it also tells you what they mean! And like so many great reference books before it, it is organized in alphabetical order, from aglet to zopissa. Readers will close this book a little bit smarter than they were when they picked it up!

The Illustrated Compendium of Essential Modern Slang is an illustrated dictionary of the zaniest jargon, including everything from ankle-biter to zazzy! Complete with definitions, roots, and absurd usage quotes, these 300+ words are sure to make you go, What does that mean? What do your grandmother, your math teacher, your soccer coach, and your booger of a brother all have in common? They all have used slang at some point in their lives! Whether they were getting jiggy with it in the'90s or raving about the cat's pajamas in the' 20s, everyone has experienced the joy that comes with these coded exchanges. In this illustrated volume, we'll take a walk down memory lane, exploring the best, worst, and most lit terms that have ever graced the pages of the English dictionary. Need an example? We've got plenty--300+ to be exact!--including: Canary (noun): a female singer, the likes of which you might find chirping along at the front of the jazzy musical group that your mom hired for your bat mitzvah. Greaser (noun): a tough guy who is as slick as the hair products that he soaks his fro' in. Tubular (adjective): breathtaking, like the wave the dad who said it is probably cruising on. Bounce (verb): to leave quickly and suddenly before anyone can hear you use the word bounce. Tea (noun): The hot goss that your friend's been holding onto, like a literal cup of burning tea she's waiting to toss in your face when the time is right. The Illustrated Compendium of Essential Modern Slang is jam-packed with dope slang words, their origin stories, hilarious usage quotes, and a pronunciation guide so you can properly enunciate that funny word that no one understands. From millennial jargon to Gen Z lingo, this comprehensive collection of modern slang is sure to make you go cray (in a good way).

Behold the 300 Ugliest Words in the English Language! Proceed at your own risk! J. R. R. Tolkien once said that cellar door is the most beautiful phrase in the English language; since then it has received quite a bit of attention from poets and linguists. But what of the ugly words? This delightfully humorous volume celebrates the words that make people gag and cover their ears. Too long have these atrocious utterances gone unrecognized, nay, shunned from society. No longer! The Illustrated Compendium of Ugly English Words pays homage to the 300 worst words in existence, such as: Amazeballs (noun): The public's opinion on this word can be perfectly encapsulated by a recent Slate article titled Who coined amazeballs and why do they hate humanity? Chunky (adjective): Chunky (meaning lumpy) is a word so vile, it can make even the most pleasant image sound disgusting. Let's try. Chunky flower. Chunky chocolate milk. Chunky Jonathan Van Ness. See? Moist (adjective): Slightly or moderately wet; damp; the linguistic equivalent of stepping in a lukewarm puddle in socks and feeling the water ooze between your toes with every step thereafter. Rural (adjective): Meaning of the countryside, rural's definition is not actually gross. Its foulness stems more from its pronunciation, which forces the speaker to make a noise akin to the grunt of a zombie. Worm (noun): Any type of burrowing, elongated invertebrate with a soft, limbless body. (Is that a description of a real creature or a monster from a nightmare video game? Hard to say.) What makes these words ugly? It's the nature of the word's meaning, the pre-existing association the reader has with the word, or the sound and look of the word or all three! The Illustrated Compendium of Ugly English Words catalogs the ugliness from A to Z, along with each word's pronunciation guide, definition, and origin, plus quotes demonstrating usage. Illustrations on nearly every page of this hardcover make it both a hilarious reference book and the ideal gift for anyone who can't stand the sound of words like acrid, panties, gubernatorial, ointment, and squirt. More than anything, though, this compendium can be used as a reminder that, despite all of our differences, deep down we all share the same hopes, the same dreams, and the same primal hatred for the terms that make us go, Ugh, why would you even say that?!

This book will teach you the practical riches of saying it well with good words, neglected words, precise words for vocabular exaltation.

A “fun and colorful” biography of the accordion-toting comedy legend—with rare photos, lyrics, lists, tweets, and more from Al himself (Publishers Weekly). The undisputed king of pop-culture parody, “Weird Al” Yankovic has sold more comedy recordings than any other artist in history, receiving three Grammy Awards (and fourteen nominations) in the process. This is a comprehensive illustrated tribute to this icon of the American humor landscape, the man behind such classics as “Eat It,” “Amish Paradise,” and “White & Nerdy.” Covering more than three decades of hilarious songs, videos, and concert performances, and his life story in words and pictures—and featuring an introduction, lists, tweets, and photo captions from Yankovic himself—Weird Al: The Book is the ultimate companion piece to an extraordinary career. “Part biography and part pop culture museum . . . a treat.” —Huffington Post

From the author of Eating the Sun, an artistic collection of more than 50 drawings featuring unique, funny, and poignant foreign words that have no direct translation into English Did you know that the Japanese language has a word to express the way sunlight filters through the leaves of trees? Or that there’s a Finnish word for the distance a reindeer can travel before needing to rest? Lost in Translation brings to life more than fifty words that don’t have direct English translations with charming illustrations of their tender, poignant, and humorous definitions. Often these words provide insight into the cultures they come from, such as the Brazilian Portuguese word for running your fingers through a lover’s hair, the Italian word for being moved to tears by a story, or the Swedish word for a third cup of coffee. In this clever and beautifully rendered exploration of the subtleties of communication, you’ll find new ways to express yourself while getting lost in the artistry of imperfect translation.

Did you know that Napoleon was once attacked by rabbits? Or that the Mars Rover sang itself “Happy Birthday”? How about the odd ingredient Civil War soldiers used to make coffee? Trivia meets its match. From Jupiter’s diamond showers to why pirates wore eye patches to the delightful link between dancing goats and the discovery of coffee, this collection of obscure and fascinating facts is brought to you by Mike Lowery, an illustrator and connoisseur of the offbeat. Featuring four gatefolds and hundreds of infographic webs that connect the trivia in dozens of surprising ways, it’s a little book that delivers endless delight.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Lost in Translation and Eating the Sun, a charming illustrated collection of more than fifty expressions from around the globe that explores the nuances of language From the hilarious and romantic to the philosophical and literal, the idioms, proverbs, and adages in this illustrated collection address the nuances of language in the form of sayings from around the world. From the French idiom “to pedal in the sauerkraut” (meaning, “to spin your wheels”), to the Japanese idiom “even monkeys fall from trees” (meaning, “even experts can be wrong”), The Illustrated Book of Sayings reveals the remarkable diversity, humor, and poignancy of the world’s languages and cultures.

A New York Times Bestseller! A "raucous trip through the odd corners of our alphabet." —The New York Times Let's get real—the English language is bizarre. A might be for apple, but it's also for aisle and aeons. Why does the word "gnat" start with a G but the word "knot" doesn't start with an N? It doesn't always make sense, but don't let these rule-breaking silent letters defeat you! This whimsical, funky book from Raj Haldar (aka rapper Lushlife) turns the traditional idea of an alphabet book on its head, poking fun at the most mischievous words in the English language and demonstrating how to pronounce them. Fun and informative for word nerds of all ages!

Did you know that ‘Almost’ is the longest word in the English language with all of its letters in alphabetical order ? Or that ‘Stewardesses’ is the longest word you can type solely with your left hand? Or that fireflies aren’t actually flies, they’re beetles? From information about words and their uses, to useful lists of things you never knew had names, palindromes, famous lines from literature and film, bizarre test answers and more, The Weird World of Words is bursting with truly oddball facts about words and language—and will have you hooked from the very first page.