The New Devil’s DictionaryIn 1906 Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce gave the world The Devil’s Dictionary—full of such satirical definitions as this: “YEAR, n. A period of three hundred and sixty five disappointments.” You can download a public domain copy from Project Gutenberg or read such modern updates as Contradictionary.

Now, for free, you can also enjoy The Verge’s update, The New Devil’s Dictionary, published August 5. This one has a high-tech spin in places. A few entries:

–“Amazon Prime (n). A parasite used by an apex predator to seduce its human host.”

–“Comcast (n). See Satan.

–"ebook (n.): A technophobic regression from the codex to the scroll."

Anyone care to write an e-book-specific Devil’s Dictionary for TeleRead? No pay, but you can keep it under 500 words if you want. You can poke fun not only at E but also its critics.

Yes, there’s room for multiple versions. We’ll play up the best in our opinion—let’s make this a contest—but probably also run everyone’s entry, with reasonable QC in place. Anyone game? Deadline for entries is September 1. E-mail davidrothman@pobox.com.”

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