Samuel Johnson's Insults : A Compendium of His Finest Snubs, Slights and Effronteries

Lackbrain, oysterwench, wantwit, clotpoll...Samuel Johnson's famous dictionary of 1755 contained some of the ripest insults in the English language and, in this book, Jack Lynch has compiled more than 300 of the curmudgeonly lexicographer's mightiest barbs, along with the definitions that only the master himself could elucidate.

Many of these expostulations have long lain dormant.

Some have even become close to extinction. Now they are back in all their discomfiting glory, ready to be relished once more.