Puns, Puzzles, and Wordplay

Are you a word-sleuth? Do you derive great pleasure in punning away an afternoon or tackling the crossword puzzle like a fiend? Does the combination of humor and etymological scholarship make you weak in the knees? If so, this book’s for you.
Clever readers (and others too!) will laugh in wonder at examples from well-known wits and infamous wisecracks, as well as phrase or two from your dedicated author.
Don’t be intimidated by the company that you’ll keep between the covers of Words Gone Wild. Think of author Jim Bernhard as the cruise director, cheekily introducing the work of Shakespeare, Queen Victoria, George S. Kaufman, Dorothy Parker, Groucho Marx, and many more as he defines and exploits the pleasures of puns, limericks, word puzzles, spoonerisms, malapropisms, anagrams, tongue-twisters, croakers, double-entendres, and more! Enjoy all types of word play, such as:
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
The pony was unable to talk because he was a little hoarse.
Two peanuts walk into a bar. One was a salted.
The chicken that crossed the road was poultry in motion.
As the gardener said when asked why he was cutting the grass with a pair of scissors: “That’s all there is; there isn’t any mower.”

Whether you enjoy playing with words, watching words at play, or consider yourself a word-watching player, you’ll love this book. After all, the words in this book just want you to have fun.

Jim Bernhard holds an M.A. in English literature from the University of Birmingham in England. A playwright, lyricist, journalist, college English teacher, actor, theatrical manager, concert impresario, and runner-up in the 1950 National Spelling Bee, Bernhard is also the author of the acclaimed book Porcupine, Picayune, & Post: How Newspapers Get Their Names. In addition, he has published puzzles and light verse in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, and numerous other publications. You can find him at wordsgonewild.net.