The Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198602898 ISBN 13: 9780198602897

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2001

Synopsis

In The Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations, noted writer and satirist Ned Sherrin has gathered nearly 6,000 quotations drawn from an international cast of humorists and pundits, ranging from Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Oscar Wilde to Groucho Marx, Monty Python, and Roseanne. Forty themes, from computers to tennis, and over eight hundred quotations, are completely new to this edition.
Arranged in themes from Actors and Acting (including Dorothy Parker's famous barb on Katherine Hepburn's Broadway debut, "She ran the whole gamut of the emotions from A to B") to Youth (Georges Courteline, "It's better to waste one's youth than to do nothing with it at all"), Sherrin has collected the sharpest, the wittiest, the wryest in quips, put-downs, and one-liners. Here are the best lines of comedians and playwrights, novelists and producers, cartoonists and moguls, soldiers and lawyers. Readers will find Woody Allen ("I don't want to achieve immortality through my work...I want to achieve it by not dying"), Noel Coward, Cole Porter, Mae West, Will Rogers, and George Bernard Shaw--as well as literary wags from Kingsley Amis to Evelyn Waugh and Gore Vidal (on Eisenhower in 1964, "reading a speech with his usual sense of discovery"). Each quotation comes with details of who said it, where, and when, while separate keyword and author indices mean the reader will never have to wonder "whose line is it anyway?"
Displaying all shades of humor, from dry to sly, subtle to wacky, The Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations will be the perfect resource for public speakers, writers and anyone else who enjoys a sparkling line, a clever pun, or a wickedly clever riposte.

About this title

About the Author

Ned Sherrin is presenter of BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends, a weekly satirical round-up of international news. He was the producer and director of the ground-breaking television comedy show, That Was The Week That Was, and has written extensively for stage and screen.

Reviews

Cleverly edited by Sherrin, a writer, satirist, and presenter of BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends, a weekly satirical gathering of international news, this unique, single-volume work is both a compendium of quotes and also a great browsing book for people fascinated with language. From an international group of writers, humorists, actors, and public figures, Sherrin has collected almost 6000 quotes, some witty puns and one-liners and some possibly insulting. Along with traditional favorites such as Mark Twain, Mae West, and Shakespeare, this new edition updates the 1996 edition with more contemporary figures, such as Madonna, Jay Leno, and Mick Jagger. About 800 new quotations have been added, and some material has been cut. The themes are arranged alphabetically, from "Actors" to "Youth," and citations sourced from movies, plays, novels, literature, songs, radio programs, and many other places provide the author's name, birth and death dates, source of quote, and context. While some entries may seem "foreign" to a U.S. audience, most readers will find something to chuckle about as they browse. Covering a wide range of themes, authors, and time periods, this source is excellent for public speakers, writers, trivia buffs, and those who love to laugh. Highly recommended for medium-sized and larger libraries. Highly recommended. Bobbie Wrinkle, McCracken Cty. P.L., Paducah, KY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198602898
• ISBN 13: 9780198602897
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 576
• Editor: Sherrin Ned