101 Two-Letter Words
Published on 29. September 2014
Book
Hardback
216 pages
978-0-393-24019-1 (ISBN)
Description
The country folk say "howdy-do" but here in town, it's "yo"; they'll say it in the country too in twenty years or so.
Rolling Stone magazine has called songwriter Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields "the Cole Porter of his generation"; O, The Oprah Magazine has hailed cartoonist Roz Chast as "the wryest pen since Dorothy Parker's." Together they have crafted a witty book in celebration of two-letter words, focusing on the 101 such words that count in Scrabble. Featuring four-line poems by Merritt and colour illustrations by Chast, 101 Two-Letter Words covers familiar words (go, hi, no, ox) as well as obscure ones (ka, oe, qi, xu). With dark wit and clever wordplay, it will delight, not just Scrabble players and crossword puzzle fanatics, but anyone in thrall to the weirdest corners of the English language.
Rolling Stone magazine has called songwriter Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields "the Cole Porter of his generation"; O, The Oprah Magazine has hailed cartoonist Roz Chast as "the wryest pen since Dorothy Parker's." Together they have crafted a witty book in celebration of two-letter words, focusing on the 101 such words that count in Scrabble. Featuring four-line poems by Merritt and colour illustrations by Chast, 101 Two-Letter Words covers familiar words (go, hi, no, ox) as well as obscure ones (ka, oe, qi, xu). With dark wit and clever wordplay, it will delight, not just Scrabble players and crossword puzzle fanatics, but anyone in thrall to the weirdest corners of the English language.
Reviews / Votes
"Merritt is a gifted poet." -- Sarah Larson "A fun little book." "Delightfully whimsical." -- David Ulin "Pretty irresistible." -- David Daley "Vaguely Seussian." -- Margaret Eby "Droll...pithy...witty." -- Dan DeLuca "Like some of the best jokes, [Merritt's] humor also educates (stealthily!), and acclaimed cartoonist Roz Chast's drawings of grouchy Scotsmen and vampire dogs complement the wry lessons." -- Tiffany Gibert "When I have no Scrabble move, I really cannot bear it. From aa to za, help has arrived- Why, thank you, Stephin Merritt!" -- Lemony Snicket, best-selling author of A Series of Unfortunate Events "This little book of tiny words by Stephin Merritt is superb; it's funny and it's useful too. (This is the Neil Gaiman blurb.)" -- Neil Gaiman, best-selling author of The Ocean at the End of the Lane "I love this book of Scrabble twos, with art and wit for mi and ye; so now please do the thousand threes, from aah to zzz." -- Stefan Fatsis, best-selling author of Word Freak "Ha!" -- Elif Batuman, author of The Possessed "Oy, ow, my wounded qi! I'll never beat Stephin at Scrabble again. Wo(e) is me." -- Emma Straub, author of The VacationersMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Illustrations
101 color illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 185 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
363 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-393-24019-1 (9780393240191)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Stephin Merritt
101 Two-Letter Words
E-Book
09/2014
W. W. Norton & Company
€18.49
Available for download
Persons
With the Magnetic Fields, Stephin Merritt has written, produced, and recorded ten albums, including 69 Love Songs, which was named one of the 500 best albums of all time by Rolling Stone. Merritt has performed as part of Lincoln Center's "American Songwriters" series and at BAM's "Next Wave of Song," and he has composed the score for the Academy Award-nominated film Pieces of April and for Eban and Charley. Roz Chast has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker since 1978. Her cartoons have been collected in What I Hate, Theories of Everything, and The Party After You Left. She also illustrated The Alphabet from A to Y, with Bonus Letter Z, the best-selling children's book by Steve Martin. Her most recent book is Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, a memoir about her parents.