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"The Dimwit's Dictionary": Chosen by "PC Magazine Extra" as one of "The Top 10 Internet Downloads" for December 1999: "Anyone can start feeling a bit stupid after writing all those holiday cards. Let this tool help you be clever." -- Angela Gunn. Whereas a witticism is a clever remark or phrase -- indeed, the height of expression -- a "dimwitticism" is the converse; it is a commonplace remark or phrase. Dimwitticisms are worn-out words and phrases; they are expressions that dull our reason and dim our insight, formulas that we rely on when we are too lazy to express what we think or even to discover how we feel. The more we use them, the more we conform -- in thought and feeling -- to everyone else who uses them.The Dimwit's Dictionary is a compilation of thousands of dimwitticisms (cliches, colloquialisms, idioms, and the like) that people speak and write excessively. Many of the entries in this book are followed by synonyms that may be used in place of the worn-out word or phrase, and by sentence examples taken from a miscellany of publications; others are followed by commentary; and still others by both. But even the mere inclusion of an entry -- that is, one unaccompanied by synonyms or commentary -- damns it as a dimwitticism. The Dimwit's Dictionary will aid us in our quest for more purposeful speech and writing. The goal is to promote understanding and rouse people to action. The goal is to express ourselves as never before -- in writing that demands to be read aloud, in speech that calls to be captured in print. The Dimwit's Dictionary will annoy some people and amuse others. People who feel as though I am referring to them in some of the commentary in this book may be annoyed by what I write; those who feel as though I am referring to others may be amused by it. This is an annoying, amusing book.
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