"Words to the Wise, A Lighthearted Look at the English Language" by
Michael Sheehan, foreword by Richard Lederer (who recently posted to our blog, check it out!)

This book represents a selection of pieces from the radio show "Words
to the Wise" which airs weekly on WTCM in Traverse City, Michigan.
Listeners pose word queries to Sheehan, who answers them on air with authority and wit. We have to say that "Words to the Wise" is a
great choice for the title. If only we'd thought of something that catchy... but wait, we did. [However, Sheehan and TOWFI came up with
the title independently, rather like Newton and Liebniz both inventing
calculus.]

Unlike our "Words to the Wise", which answers questions on the
origins of words and phrases, Sheehan's WTTW ranges far and wide - from questions of grammar and usage to why English lost its genders.

There is even a list of strange place-names with one example for each
state of the union. (Had you heard of Tarbox Corner, Rhode Island or
Humptulips, Washington?). Another amusing feature is the inclusion of
vocabulary quizzes with some truly forbidding words. Would you know,
for example, which of "gnathal", "buccal", "crural" and "ungual" means "relating to fingernails or toenails"? It is, of course, "ungual"
(it helps to remember that ungulate means "with hooves" and hooves
are more-or-less toenails).

Sometimes, instead of posing questions, the listeners have offered
examples of malapropisms and otherwise-mangled English culled from the pages of local newspapers. These include "...attaching a wench to the vehicle", "...sorting through the maize of media available", and
a CD "sound tract". Occasionally, questions have only a tangential
connection to the world of words but Sheehan gamely answers those, too.
"Is there," someone asks, "a patron saint of writers?" Not only do we learn that there is, we are also treated to the bonus information
that the patron saint of arms dealers is St. Adrian of Nicomedia. So,
who is the patron of writers? Why, St. Francis of Sales, naturally.
Here's wishing plenty of sales for Michael Sheehan!

From Amazon.com
Mike Sheehan , July 9, 2006
Reviewer: Mary Sutton (Michigan)
Tons of information with essays and lists that make you shake your head at this wacky language of ours. Thumbs up for Sheehan, the lingo cruisader on my bookshelf.

On the Lamb in a Doggy Dog World: At
Play with the English Language
written by Michael J. Sheehan
ISBN 0-9766104-9-3