The African Svelte
Ingenious Misspellings That Make Surprising Sense
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- USD 19.99
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- USD 19.99
Descripción editorial
"For language lovers, this book, with all its verbal tangles and wit, is sure to, in its own words, 'pass mustard'" (Poets & Writers).
Inspired by Daniel Menaker's tenure at the New Yorker, this collection of comical, revelatory errors foraged from the wilds of everyday English comes with commentary by the author, illustrations by Roz Chast, and a foreword from Billy Collins.
During his time at the renowned magazine, Menaker happened across a superb spelling mistake: "The zebras were grazing on the African svelte." Fascinated by the idea of unintentionally meaningful spelling errors, he began to see that these gaffes—neither typos nor auto-corrects—are sometimes more interesting than their straight-laced counterparts. Through examples he has collected over the course of his decades-long career as an editor and writer, he brings us to a new understanding of language—how it's used, what it means, and what fun it can be.
Illustrated by the inimitable Roz Chast, with a foreword by former poet laureate Billy Collins, The African Svelte offers thoughtful and intelligent exit Jesus. With both uniquely happy accidents and familiar fumbles like "for all intensive purposes" and "doggy-dog world," readers delighted by language will find themselves turning the pages with baited breath to discover fresh howlers that have them laughing off their dairy airs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this slender volume, Menaker (My Mistake), a former editor at the New Yorker and Random House, delivers a wry look at a particular type of poor usage that he deems "the African svelte." The African svelte is "the verbal equivalent of trying to put a shoe on the wrong foot," because it somehow fits anyway, Menaker explains, referring to unintentionally misused words that produce comprehensive sentences. Menaker introduces the concept with the story of its namesake: he came across the sentence "the zebra were grazing on the African svelte" while reading through the fiction slush pile at the New Yorker magazine and was so amused that he started keeping a working list of similar slippages. He also muses on the Internet's effect on language, and other types of word gaffes including spoonerisms, malapropisms, eggcorns, etc. The bulk of the book consists of numbered examples of sveltes along with short explanations of their provenance. Illustrator Chast (Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?) chimes in to illustrate entries intermittently throughout the book (her sketch for "the terrorist was wearing a baklava" being particularly funny). The result is an amusing romp through the English language that will please language snobs and open-minded linguists. B&w illus.
