Book Reviews: Depraved Words and How to E-Mail Them
By David M. Kinchen

Who knew that there was a perfectly acceptable English word for the feeling of pleasure at the misfortunes of others? Epicaricacy is the English word for a condition also described by the German word schadenfreud.

I’m an English major (Northern Illinois University, Class of 1961) and I didn’t know this until I read "Depraved and Insulting English" by Peter Novobatzky and Ammon Shea (Harvest/Harcourt, 272 pages, $13).

I couldn’t find epicaricacy in my dictionaries, but schadenfreud was there, at least in my tattered old Riverside Webster’s college dictionary, my constant copy desk companion on at least two newspapers.

Novobatzky and Shea serve up steaming portions of such vivid (and I love ‘em!) words as cacafuego, conky, sputative, scambler, kakopygian, along with old-time engravings to illustrate many of the entries. This is a delightful book for browsing, but its alphabetical layout makes it cumbersome for reference. If you come across a reference to a word, it’s simple enough to look it up.

But if you want to e-mail a depraved, insulting or disgusting word to someone near and dear, you’ll have to browse through the book for the appropriate choice. By the way, cacafuego signifies a braggart and literally means "shit-fire;" conky is a person with a big nose; sputative refers to an inveterate spitter; a scambler is a person who drops by at mealtime hoping to snag some free vittles and a kakopygian has ugly buttocks.

Speaking of e-mails (what a segue!) another book from the same publisher, "You Send Me" by Patricia T. O’Conner and Stewart Kellerman (Harcourt Inc., New York and San Diego, 240 pages, $17.95) provides a framework of etiquette for this increasing important form of communication.

The wife/husband team of O’Conner and Kellerman—sounds like a law firm—delivers the goods when it comes to clear writing and the basics of e-mailing. This is basically e-mailing for dummies—although the folks at the "For Dummies" publishing firm of IDG Books probably have their own title.

"You Send Me" is the most comprehensive guide to e-mail protocol that I’ve come across and a thorough reading of it will improve your communication skills. Even if you think you’re the tops, being a smarty-pants English major or copy editor or whatever!

Since grammar is terra incognito to many college graduates, the section of the book dealing with grammar and style is very welcome. (I was shocked, shocked to learn that a semester-long course in English grammar is not required of English majors at many prestigious universities. Believe it or not, neither is a course in Shakespeare, the greatest writer in our beloved tongue).

Enough of these grumpy old man ravings about the decline in literacy. Buy both of these gems from a great publisher, study them carefully and you’ll be tops in any class.