Richard Lederer

You may well have heard the seasonal prey upon words "What do you call an empty hot dog?" Answer: A hollow weenie.But you probably don't know what's inside the trick or treat bag of Halloween puns that Richard Lederer and P. C. Swanson have put together for the holiday. Having already pun-ished readers of Have a Punny Christmas with a toy bag of Yuletide puns, International Punster of the Year Richard Lederer now offers you best vicious for Halloween. In this venture, he is joined by fellow International Punster of the Year, P. C. Swanson, editor of "The Punster."Lederer and Swanson present the greatest collection ever assembled of pumpkin, ghost, zombie, ghoul, witch, werewolf, and skeleton puns. You'll also learn about the historical origins of Halloween and giggle through punderful biographies of Dracula and Frankenstein.Here are some ghastly examples:• What happens when you fail to pay your exorcist? You get repossessed.• Why was Dracula fired from working at the blood bank? They caught him taking too many coffin breaks and drinking on the job. • Demons are a ghoul's best friend.• Who won the skeleton beauty contest? No body.• Have you heard about the panty raid on the coven? It was an embarrassment of witches.• Why don't witches like to ride their brooms when they're angry? They're afraid of flying off the handle.• What do you call a werewolf who likes to work with clay? A hairy potter.Speaking of food, here's a menu that the authors have cooked up just for Halloween. They promise that you won't be able to resist goblin up this full-corpse meal. Bone appetit!• Ghost Toasties• Pentagram Crackers with Poisonbury Jam• Brain Muffins• Hungarian Ghoul Ash• Frank 'n' Stein• Stake Sandwitch• Littleneck Clams• Halloweenie• Spook-ghetti• Artichokes• Skullions• Scarrots• Adam's Apples• Nectarines• Booberry Pie• Terrormisu

Make your Christmas merrier with a rib-tickling collection of holiday puns, including: "The Abdominal Snowman": a punny biography of Santa Claus"Have Yourself a Very Punny Christmas": a series of at least 25 Christmas puns"The True Meanings of Christmas": the etymologies of the most important words and phrases of the holiday (including "holiday")"Christmas According to Student Bloopers": the funny mistakes that children and students make in retelling the Christmas story*"Inflated Christmas Carol Titles": Guess the carol from each inflated title

"Lederer has teamed up with Richard Dowis to take readers on another journey through the world's most wonderful, albeit perplexing, language. How many times have we all heard the word viable used in company meetings? Lederer and Dowis show us how "viable," somewhere along the line, was extracted from medical books, where it literally means "capable of living," and placed into the business lexicon, where it means ... well, who knows?"--BOOK JACKET. "The authors clear up once and for all the confusion between lay and lie and put to rest some common myths about language."--BOOK JACKET.

An introduction to wordplay, including puns, spoonerisms, riddles, and more.

Humorous abuses and errors in the use of English