Presents a collection of unusual, eccentric, and humorous quotes, and explains the circumstances that inspired them and the intent of the speakers
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From Library Journal:
Most reference questions dealing with quotations are either of the who-said-what or of the what-can-I-use-in-my-speech genre. Although this volume might be used in these ways, the lack of an index makes it more of a browsing volume. The author ( The Cat's Pajamas: A Fabulous Fictionary of Familiar Phrases , Fawcett: Ballantine, 1988; Curious Customs: The Stories Behind 296 Popular American Rituals , Harmony: Crown, 1988) deliberately omits the most quoted (Shakespeare, Wilde, Shaw, Mencken, Ecclesiastes) to concentrate on the less well known or off the wall. Divided among 16 chapters on subjects as diverse as bloopers and God, each quotation is embedded in a paragraph or so of chatty background information. Some are fairly well documented; many are less so. A popular library school exercise is to have students check a quotation against various sources, which rarely agree. Thus, Tuleja attributes "manifest destiny" to John Soule while Bartlett credits John Louis O'Sullivan. Caveat emptor.
- Paula M. Zieselman, Fulbright & Jaworski, New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherThree Rivers Press
- Publication date1992
- ISBN 10 051758560X
- ISBN 13 9780517585603
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number1
- Number of pages208