How to Win a Pullet Surprise: The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Our Language

My mother gave us four kids this book back when I was still in high school (oh, some 40 years ago). We still laugh out loud recalling some of the misguided perceptions of school kids he's collected. I can't recommend this book highly enough!

Lovers of humor and of the English language will love this book by the late Los Angeles Times columnist Jack Clifford Smith. From pallindromes to puns, from Spoonerisms to malapropisms, Smith finds humor in the way we use language. But we find warmth as well as humor in this book. Smith had great affection for his fellow human beings and it shows in this collection of observations and musings. I miss Jack Smith as a daily columnist. I'm glad to have books such as this one to remember him by.