The Foolish Dictionary: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Foolish Dictionary, credited to Gideon Wurdz, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

"The Foolish Dictionary" was written by "Gideon Wurdz" (the pen name for Charles Wayland Towne, according to this wiktionary entry,) and was published in 1904. According to the beginning of the book, it is "An exhausting work of reference to un-certain English words, their origin, meaning, legitimate and illegitimate use..." This a a short but amusing dictionary which "redefines" words in some interesting ways. Funny and sometimes bizarre observations are sprinkled throughout. In keeping with LibriVox policy to read, rather than attempt to rewrite, books - even those with offensive content - nothing has been omitted. While many of the definitions may just seem confusing or "corny" to modern readers, there are a couple that also might be considered "objectionable," particularly in section 10, which contains offensive content of a racial nature. (Summary by Maddie) Readers include: Maddie Alex Buie Alex Patterson donnie Nikolle Doolin Christian Levesque Catharine Eastman J.C. Kristin Hughes Denny Sayers

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Foolish Dictionary
• Author credits: Gideon Wurdz
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 18
• Listed recording duration: 1:45:27

Catalogue topics

• fiction
• humor

Track guide

1. 01 - Preface and Letter A — 6:53
2. 02 - Letter B — 6:31
3. 03 - Letter C — 5:02
4. 04 - Letter D — 4:28
5. 05 - Letter E — 3:49
6. 06 - Letters F and G — 7:38
7. 07 - Letter H — 6:41
8. 08 - Letters I and J — 6:49
9. 09 - Letters K and L — 8:07
10. 10 - Letters M and N — 6:58
11. 11 - Letters O and P — 8:19
12. 12 - Letters Q and R — 5:36
13. 13 - Letter S — 4:33
14. 14 - Letter T — 3:12
15. 15 - Letters U-Z — 6:10
16. 16 - Postage and Postal Information — 3:00
17. 17 - A Few Mythological and Classical Names — 6:06
18. 18 - Legal and Local Holidays in the United States — 5:44

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.