Zounds! - by Mark Dunn & Sergio Aragones (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

From Geronimo! to gesundheit to haminahamina to holy mackerel, and from abracadabra to zoinks, Mark Dunn and Sergio Aragonés show you interjections like you've never seen them before.

Often thought of as unnecessary verbal fringe or simply linguistic decoration, interjections (ahem, howdy, mamma mia, pshaw, tally-ho, whoop-de-do) may well be the most overlooked part of speech in the English language. ZOUNDS! A Browser's Dictionary of Interjections focuses the spotlight on this most deserving (and sometimes most demented) grammatical group. A light-hearted look at more than 500 interjections, ZOUNDS! explores the origins of these essential words and highlights the contributions of these previously unheralded parts of speech.

Perfect for both word lovers and the casual reader, ZOUNDS! brings together the linguistic talents of Mark Dunn, author of the award-winning novel Ella Minnow Pea, and the graphic hilarity of Sergio Aragonés, the legendary cartoonist and contributor to Mad Magazine, for a delightful romp through grammar, culture, and the English language.

Famous interjections include:

"Eureka!"
-Archimedes

"Badabing-badaboom"
-Tony Soprano

"Stuff and nonsense!"
-Alice, Alice in Wonderland

"Bah! Humbug!"
-Scrooge

"Fiddle-dee-dee !"
-Scarlett O'Hara

"Leapin' lizards!"
-Little Orphan Annie

"Nanoo, nanoo"
-Mork, from "Mork & Mindy"

"Dyn-O-Mite!"
-Jimmie Walker, "Good Times"

"Bully!"
-President Theodore Roosevelt

About the Author

Mark Dunn is a lifelong word lover and the author of Ella Minnow Pea (nominee for Book Sense Adult Fiction Book of the Year, and winner of the Borders Original Voices Awards for fiction), Welcome to Higby (short listed by Publishers Weekly as one of the best novels of the year), and Ibid: A Life. He makes his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Sergio Aragones is a legendary contributor to Mad Magazine, where his work has appeared in every issue since 1963. His cartooning talents can also be seen in his bestselling comics, including "Groo the Wanderer," "Louder than Words," and "Boogeyman". He lives and works in Ojai, California.