THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY

The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce, is a satirical book published in 1911. It offers reinterpretations of terms in the English language which lampoon cant and political doublespeak.

The Devil's Dictionary has inspired many imitations both in its day and more recently. Recent examples include The Computer Contradictionary.

The origins of the Devil's Dictionary can be traced to when Ambrose Bierce was a columnist in the San Francisco-based News Letter, a small weekly financial magazine which had been founded by Frederick Marriott in the late 1850s. The News Letter, although a serious magazine aimed at businessmen, contained a page set aside for informal satirical content, entitled The Town Crier. Bierce was hired as this page's editor in December 1868, writing with satire, irreverence and a lack of inhibition, thus becoming known as the 'laughing devil' of San Francisco.

Although the origins of the Devil's Dictionary are normally placed in 1881 (the point at which Bierce himself said it began) the idea started in August 1869 when Bierce, short of topics to write about and having recently bought a new copy of Webster's Unabridged dictionary, suggested the possibility of writing a "Comic Dictionary". He quoted the entry from Webster's for Vicegerents and italicised the section,

Kings are sometimes called God's vicegerents. It is to be wished they would always deserve the appellation

He then suggested how Noah Webster might have used his talent in a comic form and it was here that the idea of a Comic Dictionary was born.

Read the works of Ambrose Bierce online at The Literature Page

Absurdity, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.

Acquaintance, n.: A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to.

Admiration, n.: Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves.

Barometer, n.: An ingenious instrument which indicates what kind of weather we are having.
Bore, n.: A person who talks when you wish him to listen.

Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think.

Cabbage: A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man's head.

Calamities are of two kinds: misfortunes to ourselves, and good fortune to others.

In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.

Painting: The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic.

Politeness, n. The most acceptable hypocrisy.

Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.

Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.

The covers of this book are too far apart.

The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling.

There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don't know.

To be positive: To be mistaken at the top of one's voice.