Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199237166 ISBN 13: 9780199237166

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2008

Synopsis

In The Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations, Fourth Edition, the late writer and satirist Ned Sherrin has gathered more than 5,000 quotations in a rollicking collection drawn from an international cast of humorists and pundits, ranging from Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Oscar Wilde to Groucho Marx, Monty Python, and Lenny Bruce.
Arranging these quotes under more than 200 headings, 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 (such as Fran Lebowitz wry comment: "Remember that as a teenager you are at the last stage in your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you"), Sherrin collected the sharpest, the wittiest, the wryest in quips, put-downs, and one-liners. Now packed with even more quotes and covering more subjects than ever before, from Weddings to the Supernatural, Australia to Headlines, the book ranges from President Bush's "They misunderestimated me"; to James Agee's caustic review "Several tons of dynamite are set off in this picture, none of it under the right people"; to Jay Leno's comment when asked if the U.S. should draft a Constitution for Iraq: "We might as well give them ours. We aren't using it." The Dictionary also includes an index of authors, so you can track your favorite humorist throughout the book, and an index of keywords.
With quotations courtesy of comedians and playwrights, novelists and producers, cartoonists and moguls, soldiers and lawyers, and displaying all shades of humor, from dry to sly, subtle to wacky, and even unintended, 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 one of Britain's best known comic writers. The producer and director of the legendary 1960s TV show That Was The Week That Was, he has written for the stage and screen, directed many theater productions, and compiled a number of anthologies, including Ned Sherrin in His Anecdotage and I Wish I'd Said That.

Reviews

Queries about quotations continue to be among the most frequently asked reference questions, and Oxford continues to publish a number of compilations that help us answer “Who said . . . ?” The fourth edition of their collection of wit and wisdom in a humorous vein was compiled by the late Ned Sherrin and features 5,000 quotations organized into more than 200 subject categories. Quips are arranged by broad themes, and a list of those themes is included at the front of the book. Under each theme, the quotations are presented alphabetically by author. Cross-references abound, and there are also indexes by author and keyword. Themes and authors’ names are printed in boldface type, enabling the reader to easily locate the perfect passage. Coverage spans the centuries, and you are as likely to find lines by Johnny Depp, Ricky Gervais, and Eddie Izzard as you are those by Noel Coward, William Shakespeare, and George Bernard Shaw. According to James Thurber, “Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquillity,” and this book provides ample opportunity for recollection. An amusing addition to the reference collection. --Carolyn Mulac

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199237166
• ISBN 13: 9780199237166
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 576
• Editor: Sherrin Ned