Master verbalist Richard Lederer, America's "Wizard of Idiom" (Denver Post), presents a love letter to the most glorious of human achievements... Welcome to Richard Lederer's beguiling celebration of language -- of our ability to utter, write, and receive words. No purists need stop here. Mr. Lederer is no linguistic sheriff organizing posses to hunt down and string up language offenders. Instead, join him "In Praise of English," and discover why the tongue described in Shakespeare's day as "of small reatch" has become the most widely spoken language in history: English never rejects a word because of race, creed, or national origin. Did you know that jukebox comes from Gullah and canoe from Haitian Creole? Many of our greatest writers have invented words and bequeathed new expressions to our eveyday conversations. Can you imagine making up almost ten percent of our written vocabulary? Scholars now know that William Shakespeare did just that! He also points out the pitfalls and pratfalls of English. If a man mans a station, what does a woman do? In the "The Department of Redundancy Department," "Is English Prejudiced?" and other essays, Richard Lederer urges us not to abandon that which makes us human: the capacity to distinguish, discriminate, compare, and evaluate.

With fascinating etymologies and letter patterns for more than 1,000 everyday words, best-selling language writer Richard Lederer shines light on the most bedazzling, beguiling, and bewitching words in the English language. Chock-full of transfixing word histories, magical letter play, and hilarious puns, Amazing Words is an essential book for word lovers and verbivores. Dr. Lederer is the author of 60 books on language, history, and humor.

Best-selling author Richard Lederer offers a chorus of praise to those who change our lives one day and one lesson at a time. Readers will meet great teachers throughout history, as well as educators captured in literature, film, and comic strips. Offering compelling proof that teachers really do make a difference in the English, math, history, and science classrooms, A Tribute to Teachers celebrates the most unheralded, exhausting, income-challenged, and ultimately rewarding of all professions.