English as She Is Spoke

I read about this book many years ago, something reminded me of it, so I was delighted to find it as a Kindle ebook and am very pleased that I decided to splash out 66 pence. It is a book about a book, the subject being a wonderful Portuguese - English phrase book, written in the late 19th Century. The author was undaunted by the minor fact that he didn't speak English, instead resorting to the expedients of a Portuguese - French phrase book and an English - French dictionary. The results are frequently hilarious, despite the author's serious intent, which he earnestly intones in his Preface with the hope that the book "may be worth the acceptation of the studious persons, and especially of the Youth, at which we dedicate him particularly." How could the Portuguese traveller manage without such everyday phrases as "To craunch a marmoset," or "help-to a little most the better yours terms?" There were moments when the tears of laughter rolled down my cheeks, but admittedly, after a while, the long list of howlers began to lose their edge. Nevertheless, it's a short book, so can be got through very quickly and is worth every penny, all 66 of them.

Some hilarious examples of what can go wrong in translation from Portugese to French to English! I hope the phrase book wasn`t greatly used when it was first published!

I'm a writer, and have long had a love for the more whimsical and sometimes tortured turn of phrase and this book has been on my shelves for many years, rediscovered occasionally to give me a smile and a chuckle. I decided I'd like it on my Kindle, and to my delight it was available, so I immediately bought it. I must add - To enjoy this, we have to suspend our disbelief and accept that this was a real, genuine book, and not some latter day spoof, but we have no proof that it was what it claims to be.

I was already familiar with this book and this was just a spare copy. It's always entertaining.

This will give you a jolly good chuckle, but no-one will be surprised to hear that it is very much subject to the law of diminishing returns. Still, at half the cost of a newspaper you can't go wrong. I gave five stars very much in the context of price; had I paid a fiver I'd not be so happy.

Quick delivery, item as expected

This book has a very long winded pompous introduction which includes a list of the phrases the editor found funniest - without adding much context.This edition is just a long list of the English translations. It doesn’t include the original Portuguese or even the phonetic English which were included in the original. Without these the book is pretty meaningless as there is no way to tell what the list of words presented correlate to in Portuguese, or indeed what the actual translation should have been.Disappointing waste of a book - returned for a refund.

This is, without question, the funniest book I have ever read.