The Lexicon of Stupidity

The Lexicon of Stupidity
Author: Ross Petras
Publisher: Workman Publishing
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2005-01-01
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 9780761137917

Look up Religion, and discover this from Paris Hilton: [The Kaballah] helps you confront your fears. Like, if a girl borrowed my clothes and never gave them back and I saw her wearing them months later, I would confront her. Or Anatomy, and find sportscaster Jerry Coleman: Winfield goes back to the wall. He hits his head on the wall and it rolls off! ItÕs rolling all the way back to second base! Or Truth in GovernmentÑhereÕs Senator Alan Simpson: There are a lot of things that we do that are irrelevant, but thatÕs what the Senate is for. Arranged alphabetically, from Accident, Traffic to Zoology, Game Show ContestantsÕ Knowledge of (and you wouldnÕt believe how distorted that knowledge sometimes is), The Lexicon of Stupidity is an overstuffed dictionary of quotes, banalities, actual book titles, holdup notes, menu items, TV listings, and more, each meeting one exacting criterion: theyÕre so jaw-droppingly dumb you canÕt help but laugh. ItÕs the wit of the witless. The comedy of the clueless. The giggly fun of celebrities, athletes, politicians, newscasters, and other pompous types planting a foot (or two) firmly in mouth. And no authors could be more qualified to pull it together than Ross and Kathryn Petras, whose calendar celebrating stupidityÑThe 365 Stupidest Things Ever SaidÑis a perennial knock-out, with millions of copies sold since its debut in 1995. It even includes real courtroom testimony: Q. Are you sexually active? A. No, I just lie there.

Lexicon

Lexicon
Author: Max Barry
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2014-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0143125427

"About as close you can get to the perfect cerebral thriller: searingly smart, ridiculously funny, and fast as hell. Lexicon reads like Elmore Leonard high out of his mind on Snow Crash." —Lev Grossman, New York Times bestselling author of The Magicians and The Magician King “Best thing I've read in a long time . . . a masterpiece.” —Hugh Howey, New York Times bestselling author of Wool Stick and stones break bones. Words kill. They recruited Emily Ruff from the streets. They said it was because she's good with words. They'll live to regret it. They said Wil Parke survived something he shouldn't have. But he doesn't remember. Now they're after him and he doesn't know why. There's a word, they say. A word that kills. And they want it back . . .

Stupidity

Stupidity
Author: Avital Ronell
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2002
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780252071270

"Avital Ronell's work studies the fading empire of cognition, modulating stupidity into idiocy, puerility, and the figure of the ridiculous philosopher instituted by Kant. Investigating ignorance, dumbfoundedness, and the limits of reason, Stupidity probes the pervasive practice of theory-bashing and related forms of paranoid aggression. A section on prolonged and debilitating illness pushes the text to an edge of a corporeal hermeneutics, "at the limits of what the body knows and tells.""--BOOK JACKET.

The Demon's Lexicon

The Demon's Lexicon
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2009-06-02
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1416994920

Sixteen-year-old Nick and his brother, Alan, are always ready to run. Their father is dead, and their mother is crazy—she screams if Nick gets near her. She’s no help in protecting any of them from the deadly magicians who use demons to work their magic. The magicians want a charm that Nick’s mother stole—and they want it badly enough to kill. Alan is Nick’s partner in demon slaying and the only person he trusts in the world. So things get very scary and very complicated when Nick begins to suspect that everything Alan has told him about their father, their mother, their past, and what they are doing is a complete lie. . . .

The Official Dictionary of Idiocy

The Official Dictionary of Idiocy
Author: James Napoli
Publisher: Union Square + ORM
Total Pages: 367
Release: 2018-01-02
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 145492781X

Get your snark on, with this hilarious compendium from the author of The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm. It’s the perfect book for today’s world. The battle for sanity and intelligence rages on! Read any news story today and it’s clear that idiots are everywhere. For that reason, James Napoli, the esteemed director of the National Sarcasm Society, has created a smart-aleck new dictionary that defines pop-culture touchstones and throws shade on the hopelessly foolish. With copiously illustrated and snarky entries on everything from “Alternative Facts” and “Congress” to “Cable News” and “Uber” (A convenient way to entrust your transportation to a potential serial killer . . .”), The Official Dictionary of Idiocy brings some much-needed laughter to these crazy days.

The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm

The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm
Author: James Napoli
Publisher: Union Square + ORM
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2010-09-07
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1402784007

Tolerate ignorance? Really? So not necessary. This laugh-out-loud dictionary is the perfect lesson in snarkiness. Why suffer the tiny minds of the plebian rabble with whom you come in daily contact, reasons James Napoli, executive vice president of the National Sarcasm Society. So, with The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm, he provides an A–Z guide to turn to whenever you need to set someone straight. From advertisements to e-mail, materialism to remote controls, there’s a witty answer for every situation. “You have been waiting patiently for a dictionary like this to come along. And now it is here,” recognizes Napoli. “Not that you give a crap.”

Shakespeare Unlearned

Shakespeare Unlearned
Author: Adam Zucker
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2024-09-26
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0198906781

Shakespeare Unlearned dances along the borderline of sense and nonsense in early modern texts, revealing overlooked opportunities for understanding and shared community in words and ideas that might in the past have been considered too silly to matter much for serious scholarship. Each chapter pursues a self-knowing, gently ironic study of the lexicon and scripting of words and acts related to what has been called 'stupidity' in work by Shakespeare and other authors. Each centers significant, often comic situations that emerge -- on stage, in print, and in the critical and editorial tradition pertaining to the period -- when rigorous scholars and teachers meet language, characters, or plotlines that exceed, and at times entirely undermine, the goals and premises of scholarly rigor. Each suggests that a framing of putative 'stupidity' pursued through lexicography, editorial glossing, literary criticism, and pedagogical practice can help us put Shakespeare and semantically obscure historical literature more generally to new communal ends. Words such as 'baffle' in Twelfth Night or 'twangling' and 'jingling' in The Tempest, and characters such as Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Holofernes the pedant, might in the past have been considered unworthy of critical attention -- too light or obvious to matter much for our understanding of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Adam Zucker's meditation on the limits of learnedness and the opportunities presented by a philology of stupidity argues otherwise.

The Dictionary of Corporate Bullshit

The Dictionary of Corporate Bullshit
Author: Lois Beckwith
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Total Pages: 150
Release: 2011-04-13
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 038567385X

This caustically funny Webster’s of the workplace cuts to the true meaning of the inane argot spouted in cubicles and conference rooms across the land. It’s time to face the facts: We live in the Golden Age of Bullshit. And as anyone who has ever worked in an office knows, the corporate world is a veritable sea of B.S.—and we are all drowning in it. Thank God for Lois Beckwith, an actual human being with the courage and moral fiber to cut through the crap (so to speak) and give us citizens of the working world the lowdown on what all this corporate lingua franca actually means. Breathe easy. The Dictionary of Corporate Bullshit will make your job a whole lot easier, telling you how to get ahead (kissing ass, playing golf), avoid annoying colleagues (use caller ID), and ride the elevator without ruining your career (if you gossip, use pronouns, and never talk to the CEO). If you have ever wondered what a mindshare is (some kind of drug?), puzzled over the meaning of words like impactful or incentivize (here’s a clue: those are not actual words), or been faced with a glassy-eyed zombie of a coworker singing the praises of synergy, then The Dictionary of Corporate Bullshit is for you! Forget what you learned in Bschool—this handy reference guide will teach you everything you need to know about the empty, enraging, and just plain stupid gobbledygook that masquerades as “communication” in the working world.

Unusually Stupid Politicians

Unusually Stupid Politicians
Author: Kathryn Petras
Publisher: Villard
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2009-03-12
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 0307498506

Kathryn Petras and Ross Petras, bestselling authors of the scathingly funny Unusually Stupid Americans and Unusually Stupid Celebrities, now set their bipartisan sights on the hallowed halls of the United States government. Unusually Stupid Politicians exposes the mind-boggling but true political mishaps, missteps, and miscues that have even the savviest spin doctors shaking their heads and saying “No comment.” Sections include • Extreme Hairsplitting–such as when Florida governor Jeb Bush, after being accused of hiding in a closet from rampaging Democrats, denied the allegation completely, stating that “it was actually a boiler room” • Brilliant and Innovative Ideas from The Pentagon– like their groundbreaking "Gay Bomb," their "Bad Breath Inducing" halitosis weapon and their plans to enlist The Three Stooges in the fight against terror. • Creative Political Excuses——such as “I just discovered I’m Jewish and it’s a Holy Day,”——used by Senator George Allen, who, after learning of his Jewish heritage, got out of a Senate hearing to “observe” Yom Kippur • The Most Egregiously Large Political Egos–measured in standard Chuck Schumer Ego Units (CSEUs) This hilarious and eye-opening exposé gives awards for “How I Blew My Campaign” and “Worst Campaign Ad,” and shares a list of candidates “endorsed by God,” as well as a list of those who lost because of Satan. So turn off C-SPAN and quit text-messaging congressional pages–you’re about to learn what the definition of “is” is.

They Have a Word for it

They Have a Word for it
Author: Howard Rheingold
Publisher:
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2000
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9781889330464

They Have a Word for It takes the reader to the far corners of the globe to discover words and phrases for which there are not equivalents in English. From the North Pole to New Guinea, from Easter Island to Tibet, Howard Rheingold explores more than forty familiar and obscure languages to discover genuinely useful (rather than simply odd) words that can open up new ways of understanding and experiencing life. --Sarabande Books.