Zounds!: A Browser's Dictionary of Interjections

From Geronimo! to gesundheit to haminahamina to holy mackerel, and from abracadabra to zoinks—a look at interjections like you’ve never seen them before.

Often thought of as unnecessary verbal fringe or simply linguistic decoration, interjections (ahem, howdy, mamma mia, pshaw, tally-ho, whoop-de-do) may well be the most overlooked part of speech in the English language. ZOUNDS! A Browser's Dictionary of Interjections focuses the spotlight on this most deserving (and sometimes most demented) grammatical group. A light-hearted look at more than 500 interjections, ZOUNDS! explores the origins of these essential words and highlights the contributions of these previously unheralded parts of speech.

Perfect for both word lovers and the casual reader, ZOUNDS! brings together the linguistic talents of Mark Dunn, author of the award-winning novel Ella Minnow Pea, and the graphic hilarity of Sergio Aragonés, the legendary cartoonist and contributor to Mad Magazine, for a delightful romp through grammar, culture, and the English language.

Famous interjections include:

“Eureka!” —Archimedes

“Badabing-badaboom!” —Tony Soprano

“Stuff and nonsense!” —Alice, Alice in Wonderland

“Bah! Humbug!” —Scrooge

“Fiddle-dee-dee !” —Scarlett O'Hara

“Leapin' lizards!” —Little Orphan Annie

“Nanoo, nano” —Mork, from “Mork & Mindy”

“Dyn-O-Mite!” —Jimmie Walker, “Good Times”

“Bully!” —President Theodore Roosevelt

© 2025 St. Martin's Griffin (Ebook): 9781466855014

Release date

Ebook: 16 April 2025