Important Note
Please remember that this book is over 100 years old. Most of the
entries are amusing, but some could be considered racist, sexist,
anti-semitic, or otherwise offensive. These reflect the views of the
author and the era of publication, and in no way do they display the
opinions of the Aaaugh! Staff.
Who Was Gideon Wurdz?
As best we can tell, Gideon Wurdz was the pen name of Charles
Wayland Towne (1875 - ?). Other works by Gideon Wurdz include:
"...one or two masters of humor to whom the book was submitted for comment were so enthusiastic over the novelty of the idea that they volunteered to contribute some definitions ... definitions have been secured from ... James Whitcomb Riley, George Barr McCutcheon, Mark Twain, and Elbert Hubbard..."
If you have any further information about the book or its author, please let us know.
Want Your Own Copy?
Thanks to Project Gutenberg,
we are able to offer you a plain text version of the book.
fldct10.txt (82 KB)
If you're looking for a paper copy, reproductions are available from Pryor Publications of Kent, England (ISBN: 0946014353) and Kessinger Publishing of Whitefish, Montana (ISBN: 1419162594). Original copies of the book often appear at eBay and Abebooks.
Audio is available from LibriVox.
Word Origins
Please do not send us your etymology questions. We almost certainly will be
unable to provide you with an answer. For more information on the subject,
see the categories at the
Open Directory Project or
Yahoo.
Regarding Dee-lighted
Early editions of the book carried the following text after the
definition for dee-lighted:
(Patent and Dramatic rights to this word are, until March 4, 1905, the exclusive property of T. Roosevelt, Esq. Subsequent editions of The Foolish Dictionary will define the word at length).
Later editions read:
(Patent and Dramatic rights to this word were formerly the exclusive property of T. Roosevelt, Esq. Since re-election, the word has become obsolete)
OCLC: 39488805
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