Peter E. Meltzer

Okay. I have a very good vocabulary, which I often have to tone down when speaking to people. I don’t quite understand the point of using the totally obscure words that Meltzer offers as synonyms. Although it might be interesting to page through the book for one’s own amusement and education, the book has little or no practical use. Indeed, as an editor, I might point out that language is generally used to communicate ideas. The use of the words in this book will not serve that purpose and will, in fact, only result in befuddlement.… (más)

This is not an ordinary thesaurus. I would characterize it more as a collection for word lovers of entertaining examples of alternate descriptors for ideas, that can be read and sampled as if it were a collection of short essays on words. For example, here is the entry for "essence":

essence (the ... of a matter, as in the bottom line, the main point, the substance, etc.) n.: tachlis (esp. as in "talk tachlis") [Yiddish]. - My current cookbook bible is How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. The author writes for the New York Times...and he's written several other good-read cookbooks. Yes he's opinionated, very. But this guy talks tachlis, he gets right to the point and tells you what you need to know in a clear, down to earth manner. (Ann Kleinberg, "Books for Cooks," Jerusalem Post, 6/18/2004.)

I chose this example of a Yiddish synonym because the book reminds me in some ways of The Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten. That book too is ostensibly a dictionary, but is really more of a collection of anecdotes about usage to be read and savored in little bits.

I wouldn't count on this book for a comprehensive thesaurus, but I think it actually serves a more useful and entertaining function.… (más)