Book Review: The Dictionary of High School B.S. by Lois Beckwith

4 stars

Words often have multiple meanings, and this is never truer than in high-school.

From “dance” to “teacher,” a high-school student’s understanding of these words goes beyond the Oxford definitions of “to move about rhythmically alone or with a partner” and “a person who teaches.”

As our parents are wont to say, we kids do speak a funny language, and somehow they’ve managed to make millions of dictionaries for Croatian, Malay, Latin and Greek – yet no one has dared to make a dictionary of high-school jargon. Until now, that is.

Funny and brutally honest, The Dictionary of High School B.S. is a reference guide for anyone who is in high school or ever has been – love it or hate it.

Words like “dance” become the awkward social functions we all know too well and “teacher,” the psycho-manic person who whips out three hours of torture for you to accomplish as homework every day.

Beckwith’s witty humour and tell-it-as-it-is style makes this dictionary a very interesting read, despite the fact that it is an actual dictionary with words from A to Z.