English as She is Wrote / Showing Curious Ways in which the English Language may be made to Convey Ideas or obscure them.

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

25933

Title

English as She is Wrote / Showing Curious Ways in which the English Language may be made to Convey Ideas or obscure them.

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

A humorous collection of real-world examples demonstrating the quirks, errors, and creative liberties taken in English writing. From signboards to letters, this book showcases how language can obscure meaning or convey ideas in unexpected ways.

Summary up to 500 words

Compiled by Francis A. Teall, this volume serves as a companion to the famous "English as She is Spoke," offering a witty yet sober critique of the English language's capacity to obscure meaning through genuine error. Unlike collections relying on intentional humor, this work rescues authentic specimens of "English as she is wrote" from newspapers, advertisements, legal documents, and personal correspondence. The text is divided into sections exploring inaccuracies by the uneducated, advertisers, the effusive, and the untutored. The book highlights how the language can convey absurd ideas or obscure simple facts. Readers encounter bizarre descriptions, such as a child run over by a "three years old" wagon or a house built by a "mason of brown stone." Children's definitions further illustrate this spontaneity, with "ice" described as water that "went to sleep" and "stars" defined as the moon's eggs. The collection also features elaborate, flowery prose that transforms simple observations into convoluted nonsense, such as a church being "ensconced in flowers" or a scientific definition of sneezing that reads like a complex medical treatise. Advertisements and signboards provide a rich source of grammatical chaos, ranging from a horse "calculated for a charger" to a room available for a gentleman "twelve feet square." The volume captures the innocence of farmers who might "hang two barn doors and myself" or a sailor finding a pearl in a shell. By presenting these genuine blunders, the work demonstrates that even those exercising their right to independent action can inadvertently create original and racy expressions that convey meanings totally opposed to their intention. Ultimately, the book celebrates the hidden possibilities within orthography and construction, offering a fascinating glimpse into the quirks of human expression without relying on staged comedy.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

Download URL

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25933.epub.noimages

Local file path

data/epubs/pg25933.epub

Download EPUB

Downloaded at

2026-07-07 14:15 UTC

Categories

• Humor
• Language