"'I see,' said the blind man, as he stumbled over a log." Since ancient times, people have engaged in clever word play, often creating humorous sayings of the same basic construction as this familiar one.

In modern times termed a "wellerism" because it is a form of expression reminiscent of Sam Weller and his father, two celebrated characters in Dickens's Pickwick Papers, this major subtype of the proverb has been popular in most European languages and some African languages as far back as can be traced.

As defined by folklorists and proverb scholars, a wellerism generally consists of three parts: a speech or statement (often a proverb), identification of the speaker, and identification of the situation, which gives the expression an ironic or humorous twist, often in the form of a pun. "Prevention is better than cure," said the pig when it ran away from the butcher. "We'll have to rehearse that," said the undertaker as the coffin fell out of the car.

Hidden in these short quips is revealing commentary on social and political issues as well as human nature in general, and as such, they serve as valuable folkloric indicators of the mores of the time in which they were coined and used.

A Dictionary of Wellerisms is the first work to collect all of the wellerisms recorded in the English language. Drawing on periodical literature and other scholarly sources, Wolfgang Mieder and Stewart A. Kingsbury have assembled, edited, and annotated over 1500 texts found in British, American, and Canadian literatures and oral collections.

Mieder's preface, bibliography, and extensive introduction explaining the history, meaning, and function of wellerisms are supplemented by an index of speakers and an index of situations.

Containing a wealth of wit and humor, A Dictionary of Wellerisms is at once entertaining and informative. Whether mirthful, satirical, or wryly observant, the wellerisms herein will appeal to the casual browser as well as to students and scholars of literature, folklore, linguistics, anthropology, and cultural history.