Imagine if forgetting your wife's birthday was not only discouraged, but a crime? That's one of many real-life blue laws (rules prohibiting a hyperspecific activity) that Don't Hurt a Sasquatch covers. This hilarious compendium dives into the quirkiest decrees from around the country, from Alabama's ban on driving blindfolded to Delaware's restriction on selling dog hair. Every state in the country has its own set of rules, carefully designed to identify the biggest problems in its culture and correct them. Most of them are normal: don't steal, don't kill, don't go somewhere you don't belong, etc. All it takes is one weirdo to throw a wrench in that ordinary list, one unruly dude who tried to hold a salmon suspiciously or wash an alligator in a bathtub for lawmakers to step in and impose some order. What are some of these crazy laws, you ask? Take your pick: In Connecticut, it's illegal for a barber to hum a tune while clipping your hair. Thinking about buying a boat house? Think again. It's considered illegal in the state of Georgia to live on a boat for longer than a month. Pigeons get the short end of the stick in both San Francisco, California and Venice, Italy: it's against the law to feed them in public in both cities. Ready to say "I do!" a third time? Hopefully, you don't live in Kentucky: women are not allowed to marry thrice in the Southern state. Want to surprise your loved one with a pizza? Too bad. Sending a pie to someone without their permission can result in a $500 dollar fine in Louisiana. In Arizona, you can't feed garbage to a pig without a permit. What constitutes as garbage, though, is up to you. The list goes on. More interesting than the laws themselves are the histories behind each, which Blue Laws goes into in detail. Like, why can't you roll a boulder in Boulder, Colorado? Who decided that you couldn't catch fish with your hands in Indiana? Why are blue laws called "blue laws" and how did they come to mean "generally weird rules" (instead of their original meaning: "laws dictating what citizens can and cannot do on Sundays")? In this informative and funny book, you will find out through a series of anecdotes, court cases, and illustrated pictures that break down just how and why these rules (most of which are still currently in effect) came to be. Good for history teachers, trivia nerds, or white elephant gift exchange participants, Don't Hurt a Sasquatch is a widely appealing book that will teach you more about how the world works than you ever wanted to know.

The Illustrated Compendium of Weirdly Specific Words is an illustrated dictionary of the 300+ most specific words in the English language, along with their definitions, roots, and (hilarious) usage quotes! Have you ever been lying in your bed, surrounded by crumbs and wrappers, feasting on your fifth pop tart and thought, "I wish there was a word for this"? Well, there is! Accubationis - the practice of eating and drinking while lying down. The English language is populated by many words that have a regular place in everyday conversation, and The Illustrated Compendium of Weirdly Specific Words celebrates these words by featuring definitions, origins and usage, and coupling illustrations. Words include: Badling (noun) - a group of ducks. Crapulence (noun) - sickness resulting from eating too much. Guddle (verb) - fishing only with your hands. Kaiju (noun) - A film genre characterized by giant, terrifying monsters. Slugabed (noun) - A lazy person who stays in bed late. Wegotism (noun) - The excessive use of the word 'we'. With more than 300 insanely specific words, you'd think that you would know a few of them, right? Well, think again! We're willing to wager that you don't know a single one of these words! Unless, of course, you have a special interest in the smell of horse urine (the word for that particular odor is jumentuous). The Illustrated Compendium of Weirdly Specific Words not only captures these words through equally specific illustrations, it also tells you what they mean! And like so many great reference books before it, it is organized in alphabetical order, from aglet to zopissa. Readers will close this book a little bit smarter than they were when they picked it up!

Behold the 300 Ugliest Words in the English Language! J. R. R. Tolkien once said that cellar door is the most beautiful phrase in the English language; since then it has received quite a bit of attention from poets and linguists. But what of the ugly words? This delightfully humorous volume celebrates the words that make people gag and cover their ears. Too long have these atrocious utterances gone unrecognized, nay, shunned from society. No longer! The Illustrated Compendium of Ugly English Words pays homage to the 300 worst words in existence, such as: Amazeballs (noun): The public's opinion on this word can be perfectly encapsulated by a recent Slate article titled "Who coined amazeballs and why do they hate humanity?" Chunky (adjective): Chunky (meaning "lumpy") is a word so vile, it can make even the most pleasant image sound disgusting. Let's try. Chunky flower. Chunky chocolate milk. Chunky Jonathan Van Ness. See? Moist (adjective): Slightly or moderately wet; damp; the linguistic equivalent of stepping in a lukewarm puddle in socks and feeling the water ooze between your toes with every step thereafter. Rural (adjective): Meaning "of the countryside," rural's definition is not actually gross. Its foulness stems more from its pronunciation, which forces the speaker to make a noise akin to the grunt of a zombie. Worm (noun): Any type of burrowing, elongated invertebrate with a soft, limbless body. (Is that a description of a real creature or a monster from a nightmare video game? Hard to say.) What makes these words ugly? It's the nature of the word's meaning, the pre-existing association the reader has with the word, or the sound and look of the word--or all three! The Illustrated Compendium of Ugly English Words catalogues the ugliness from A to Z, along with each word's pronunciation guide, definition, and origin, plus quotes demonstrating usage. Illustrations on nearly every page of this hardcover make it both a hilarious reference book and the ideal gift for anyone who can't stand the sound of words like acrid, panties, gubernatorial, ointment, and squirt. More than anything, though, this compendium can be used as a reminder that, despite all of our differences, deep down we all share the same hopes, the same dreams, and the same primal hatred for the terms that make us go, "Ugh, why would you even say that?!" Proceed at your own risk!

The Illustrated Compendium of Essential Modern Slang is an illustrated dictionary of the zaniest jargon, including everything from ankle-biter to zazzy! Complete with definitions, roots, and absurd usage quotes, these 300+ words are sure to make you go, "What does that mean?" What do your grandmother, your math teacher, your soccer coach, and your booger of a brother all have in common? They all have used slang at some point in their lives! Whether they were getting "jiggy" with it in the '90s or raving about the "cat's pajamas" in the ' 20s, everyone has experienced the joy that comes with these coded exchanges. In this illustrated volume, we'll take a walk down memory lane, exploring the best, worst, and most lit terms that have ever graced the pages of the English dictionary. Need an example? We've got plenty--300+ to be exact!--including: Canary (noun): a female singer, the likes of which you might find "chirping" along at the front of the jazzy musical group that your mom hired for your bat mitzvah. Greaser (noun): a tough guy who is as slick as the hair products that he soaks his fro' in. Tubular (adjective): breathtaking, like the wave the dad who said it is probably cruising on. Bounce (verb): to leave quickly and suddenly before anyone can hear you use the word bounce. Tea (noun): The hot goss that your friend's been holding onto, like a literal cup of burning tea she's waiting to toss in your face when the time is right. The Illustrated Compendium of Essential Modern Slang is jam-packed with "dope" slang words, their origin stories, hilarious usage quotes, and a pronunciation guide so you can properly enunciate that funny word that no one understands. From millennial jargon to Gen Z lingo, this comprehensive collection of modern slang is sure to make you go cray (in a good way).