The Devil's Dictionary, A-J

By: Ambrose Bierce

Narrated by: Jack Chekijian

Entries A-J.

The Devil's Dictionary was begun in a weekly paper in 1881 and was continued in a desultory way at long intervals until 1906. The author hopes to be held guiltless by those to whom the work is addressed: enlightened souls who prefer dry wines to sweet, sense to sentiment, wit to humor, and clean English to slang.

A conspicuous and, it is hoped, not unpleasant feature of the book is its abundant illustrative quotations from eminent poets, chief of whom is that learned and ingenius cleric Father Gassalasca Jape, SJ, whose lines bear his initials. Ambrose Bierce disappeared in Mexico in 1913.

Public Domain (P)2017 Jack Chekijian

Clever twists for literate people

A sample: "CONSERVATIVE, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others."

I love the approach of mocking every player at the table.