Favorite Words of Famous People

Overview

A delightful, bedazzling, eccentric, amusing, insightful, delectable treat

The favorite words of 250 of the best and brightest contemporary thinkers and creators are collected in this volume that no self-respecting word lover should be without. From Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to authors Yann Martel and Nicholson Baker, the writers, scientists, educators, humorists, and celebrities featured in this book write at length about their favorite words and why they are so enamored with them. The entries cover a range of responses, some witty and hilarious, some brilliant and profound, others linguistically clever and poignant. For Mary Higgins Clark it’s memory ("the DNA of a writer"); for Arianna Huffington, it’s trust ("both unutterably sacred and the old banana-skin joke on a cosmic scale"). Other favorite words include the familiar (love, zest, goodness), the unfamiliar (cthonic, steatopygia, irredentist), long words (horripilating) and short (sex), weird words (jerzoid), and refreshingly down-to-earth words (egg). This cornucopia of words is a frequently funny, sometimes eccentric, and often surprisingly intimate and moving look into personality and language.

Reviews

"Pretty darned revealing!"  —Self magazine

"A literate, sometimes moving treatise on the creative and evocative effects of language."  —Orlando Sentinel

"A great gift item for anyone who is fascinated by words."  —Village Voice

"I have been both amused and touched by this book."  —Howard Gardner, author, Frames Of Mind: The Theory Of Multiple Intelligences

"Lewis Frumkes is a living, breathing barrel of insights."  —Bruce Jay Friedman, author of Stern

"Delightful! Eye-opening! Fun! Thought-provoking! Those are just a few of the adjectives that zipped across my mind as I went through my copy of Favorite Words of Famous People. My advice? Buy! Read! Enjoy!"  —Susan Isaacs, author, As Husbands Go

Author Biography

Lewis Burke Frumkes hosts a weekly radio show on WPAT-AM and is the author of seven books, including How to Raise Your I.Q. by Eating Gifted Children, The Logophile’s Orgy, Manhattan Cocktail, and Metapunctuation. His work has appeared in Harper's, Punch, and the New York Times. He lives in New York City.