Lucifer's Dictionary presents, with nasty satire, the true meanings of words as butchered by Americans of all kinds.
I was able to compile this dictionary because I was infused with the demonic spirit of the author of THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY, Ambrose ("Bitter") Bierce, who produced his most well known writing in the same city where I live, San Francisco. Without the influence of Bierce, not even the idea for my dictionary would have germinated. I pay tribute to Bierce's innovative creations, and so should everyone who has not yet lost the ability to think past the all-prevailing bullshit. (See the definition of "bullshit" in the B words of this dictionary.)
Excerpt
ABORTION-To the religious, murder of a life or potential life. To the realist, crime prevention.
ADULT ENTERTAINMENT-Any presentation of sex that appeals to men and women whose intelligence level is equivalent to that of eight-year-old children, who are not allowed to see it because they are not old enough.
Professional Reviews
Review by Norman Goldman
Wolfe has devoted part of fifteen years of his life to jotting down words, terms, and phrases that have crept into our vernacular, and he has provided us with a side-splitting book that ingeniously demonstrates how these forms are used by most Americans in a language...that is supposed to be but is not the same as English.
NORMAN GOLDMAN, Editor, BookPleasures
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Reviews for "Lucifer's Dictionary of the American Language"
Lucifer's Dictionary of the American Language is filled with expressions, chronicled details, and pleasantly puzzling, not always main stream terminology. Wolfe points out that many gender distinct words have come to mean either gender, or no gender at all. Santa, aks, contempt and family newspaper are clarified with explicitness. The reader may grin first while observing that the word liar, ‘an individual who has made the appropriate choice between either concealing the truth or being fired, disbarred, divorced, denied credit, prosecuted, imprisoned, or executed for admitting it,’ and then grasp that this is frequently the case in today’s culture. A fascinating meaning for ‘overworked’ is supplied… and as my mom used to say, the definition supposing is often ‘more truth than poetry.’
These are delightful definitions. You join distinguished company, including Daniel Webster and H.L. Mencken. - Peter Nye, Editor, Public Citizen Magazine.
More relevant, more clever, and more important than Ambrose Bierce's "Devil's Dictionary". - Elizabeth Pomada, co-author of "Painted Ladies."
Delightful and hilarious...a great and fun book. - Jack Heffron, Senior Editor, Story Press.
Sharp, acute humor...you have much talent. - Shirley A. Buscher, Lincoln-Herndon Press.
Both funny and acurate. - Matthew Trokenheim, Thunder's Mouth Press.
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