Simply Fun — Vocabulary Words and Expressions: 1600 Words and Expressions You Never Had Time to Look Up by Ed Hennessy
There is a particular kind of reader — the sort who delights in words like jeremiad, philippic, or omnium gatherum — who will feel instantly at home in Ed Hennessy’s Simply Fun — Vocabulary Words and Expressions: 1600 Words and Expressions You Never Had Time to Look Up. For everyone else, this book may serve as either a gentle initiation into the pleasures of lexical oddity or a full-blown plunge into what can only be described as verbal magpie energy: a gleeful collection of shiny, curious, occasionally arcane linguistic treasures.
Hennessy makes it clear from the outset that this is not a dictionary, nor does it pretend to be exhaustive. Instead, it’s a “condensed overview of perky, efficacious jewels,” a phrase that neatly captures both the ambition and attitude of the project. Organized into daily, bite-sized entries, each page offers a cluster of words and phrases — some obscure, some half-forgotten, some hiding in plain sight — accompanied by brisk definitions, cultural references and the occasional sly aside or in-joke built from previous entries. Think less Oxford English Dictionary and more a well-read raconteur flipping through a mental scrapbook.
A Delightfully Idiosyncratic Amble Through the English Language
And what a scrapbook it is. On any given page, you might encounter a descant on rustic “cracker-barrel” wisdom, a reminder that a dog’s breakfast is less a meal than a gallimaufry of chaos, or a warning that a “dumpster fire” requires immediate rhetorical damage control. Elsewhere, you’ll learn that argent describes a silvery sheen, that littoral belongs to the language of coastal waters, and that to wend one’s way is to travel — but not necessarily by the most efficient route. The pleasure here lies not just in the definitions themselves, but in the way they’re delivered: lightly worn, occasionally cheeky and often anchored in examples that range from literary to colloquial to delightfully idiosyncratic.
The tone throughout is knowingly discursive, with the author happily taking the scenic route when a straight line might do. A definition becomes an anecdote; an anecdote becomes a brief etymological detour; and before you know it, you’ve arrived somewhere unexpected but entirely welcome. It’s a style that could, in lesser hands, tip into frippery. Here, it mostly lands as charm. Hennessy trusts that his reader shares at least a passing fondness for language’s quirks — and if you don’t at first, you may find yourself developing one along the way. There are so many wonderful, weird words out there!
One of the book’s inspired touches is its built-in invitation to participate. Each section is paired with a blank notes page, encouraging readers to jot down their own linguistic finds, personal favorites, or newly adopted verbal affectations. It’s a small but meaningful gesture that transforms the book from a static compilation into something more interactive — a kind of evolving, personalized lexicon. In that sense, Simply Fun isn’t just about acquiring words; it’s about noticing them, collecting them and perhaps even putting them to use in your own daily parlance (if only for your own amusement).
A Book You’ll Turn to Over and Over for Edification — and Amusement
The sheer density of unfamiliar terms, coupled with the author’s enthusiasm for piling example upon example, is not meant for binge-reading. It rewards a more seriatim approach: a page here, a handful of entries there, a quick dip before bed or during a spare moment in the day. You may also find yourself lingering over an entry or two, in admiration of the wordplay.
Ultimately, what Hennessy offers is less a reference work than a companion for the word-curious — a book that celebrates language not as a rigid system to be mastered, but as a living, evolving, occasionally eccentric playground. It’s for readers who enjoy parsing nuance, who take quiet pleasure in deploying just the right term at just the right moment, and who don’t mind if that moment occasionally raises an eyebrow or two.
In an age of streamlined communication and algorithmic brevity, Simply Fun feels almost delightfully out of step — a little anachronistic, perhaps, but in the best possible way. It invites you to slow down, to savor, and to take a beat before deciding whether “very big mess” will suffice, or whether dog’s breakfast might serve you better.
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