The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook is a book written by Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf. It was published in 1992 by Villard Books in New York, by Grafton in London, and, by Random House of Canada Limited in Toronto. An updated edition was published in 1994.
The book was translated into Japanese by Kyoko Baba.Sarah Lyall. "Book Notes". The New York Times. 24 November 1993. Section C. p 24. It includes a section on "bureaucratically suitable" language."Lexicographically Challenged" in "Inside Publishing". Lingua Franca. vol 2. No 4: April/May 1992. p 17.
Reception The book was a bestseller.Jonathan Freedland. "Rotherham inquiry: the 'PC gone mad' defence is itself a form of racism". The Guardian. 29 August 2014.Ron Becker. Gay TV and Straight America. Rutgers University Press. 2006. Page 117. It has been described as "tongue in cheek",Michiko Kakutani. "The Word Police". The New York Times. 31 January 1993. "outrageously funny",Library Journal. 1 May 1992. Book Verdict. "hilariously rewarding",Clarence Petersen. Chicago Tribune. 4 October 1992. Digitised copy. "valuable and amusing""Shorter Reviews" 262 The Contemporary Review 224 (No 1527: April 1993) and "thoroughly sourced".Geoffrey Hughes. Political Correctness: A History of Semantics and Culture. Wiley. 2011. Pages 56 and 57.
See also Politically Correct Bedtime Stories Politically Incorrect
References
Further reading
The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook. Villard Books. 1992. . "peak guide" The New Review of the Low Pay Unit, Issues 1-20, p 19 Peter Newmark. "PC" (November 1993) reprinted in More Paragraphs on Translation. Topics in Translation Series. Multilingual Matters. 1998. . Page 52. Tom Aitken. "Past a Joke". The Tablet. 27 March 1993. p 18. "Look it up in your tree carcass". Baltimore Sun. 9 November 1993. Lauren Lipton. "A Cerebrally Deprived Notion". LA Times. 8 May 1992. "General" in "Notes on Current Books" (1994) 70 Virginia Quarterly Review 101