As Pimped by Ken Jennings

As a faithful reader of the Ken Jennings blog, I followed the links in his post to a new book he contributed to: The Enlightened Bracketologist: The Final Four of Everything.

It arrived on Friday morning, and the only thing better than the easy-open Amazon envelope it came in was the actual book.

Selections from the table of contents:

• Candy Bars
  (Cathy says it's hard to choose between Skor and Heath because they're both terrible.)


• Mondegreens, or Misheard Lyrics
  ("'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" doesn't make it out of the first round. )


• Game Show Catchphrases
  (by Ken Jennings)


• NASCAR Phrases
  (by Jeff McGregor, author of Sunday Money: Speed! Lust! Madness! Death! A Hot Lap Around America with NASCAR, which I mentioned in an earlier post)


• Pickup Lines


• Punctuation
  (by Jesse Sheidlower, who also contributes to Copy Editor, a newsletter I subscribe to)


• Political Hot Buttons
  (by Mo Rocca, formerly of The Daily Show, who reminds me of my friend's husband)


• Scrabble Words
  (by Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players, which I read and enjoyed)


• Sins against the Language
  (includes many that I see in manuscripts all the time)


• Sport/Not a Sport
  (by Bill Scheft, author of The Ringer, which I read and enjoyed, writer for David Letterman, and former contributor to Sports Illustrated)


• Typefaces
  (Megan L can't believe that Arial isn't even listed.)


• Women's Magazine Sex Cliches


• Your Boss's Annoying Habits
  (Pestering you about going to church is not listed.)


• Shakespeare Insults
  (Finally! Something useful!)

I foresee hours of amusement during breaks and lunch. This may be the best $10 I ever spent.