Inspired by his tenure at The New Yorker, this collection of comical, revelatory errors foraged from the wilds of everyday English comes with commentary by the author, illustrations by Roz Chast, and a foreword from Billy Collins. During his time at The  New Yorker, Daniel Menaker happened across a superb spelling mistake: &;The zebras were grazing on the African svelte." Fascinated by the idea of unintentionally meaningful spelling errors, he began to see that these gaffes&;neither typos nor auto-corrects&;are sometimes more interesting than their straight-laced counterparts. Through examples he has collected over the course of his decades-long career as an editor and writer, he brings us to a new understanding of language--how it's used, what it means, and what fun it can be.    Illustrated by the inimitable Roz Chast, with a foreword from former poet laureate Billy Collins, The African Svelte offers thoughtful and intelligent exit Jesus. Menaker glances at  familiar fumbles like "for all intensive purposes" and "doggy-dog world," but readers delighted by language will find themselves turning the pages with baited breath to discover fresh howlers that have them laughing off their dairy airs.   DANIEL MENAKER began his career as a fact checker at The New Yorker , where he became an editor and worked for twenty-six years. A former book editor, Menaker is the author of six books; he has written for the New York Times , the Atlantic ,  Parents , Redbook , and many others. ROZ CHAST was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her cartoons began appearing in The New Yorker in 1978. Since then she has published hundreds of cartoons and written or illustrated more than a dozen books. Her memoir Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? was a #1 New York Times bestseller and a 2014 National Book Award Finalist. The African Svelte Ingenious Misspellings That Make Surprising Sense By Daniel Menaker Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Copyright © 2016 Daniel Menaker All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-544-80063-2 Contents Title Page, Contents, Copyright, Dedication, Epigraph, Foreword, March!, Introduction: From There to Here, The Sveltes, 1. from the gecko, 2. naval gazing., 3. I am sobbing wet., 4. wet your appetite, 5. a furled brow., 6. Kneed in the walnuts., 7. the throws of packing?, 8. Amphibious Pitcher Makes Debut., 9. the terrorist was wearing a baklava., 10. The Russian takeover of Crimea is a feta com plea., 11. a last-stitch effort., 12. undo stress., 13. vast asleep., 14. a Grecian spoon., 15. Al Italia called., 16. Did Flight MH370 allude radar?, 17. Aztech ruins., 18. calender., 19. roman o'clay., 20. no-nothings., 21. ... in which H.G. Wells builds a time machine which is high jacked by Jack the Ripper., 22. Pimps feel they get a bad wrap, arent at all like sex traffickers ie, the international shit, holding bitches hostage., 23. #MarshalLaw., 24. song-cycle [that] seems to waiver from quiet to intense., 25. Grand Budapest Hotel officially joins kale as most noisesomely ubiquitous and overrated phenomenon of 1st Quarter of 2014, 26. Amber Lynn., 27. fool hearty., 28. J-walking., 29. slight of hand,, 30. self of steam., 31. faux-gentile., 32. eek out a living., Brake., 33. rod iron parrot cage., 34. shuttered to a stop., 35. If I masterbait in a plane, is it a hijacking?, 36. Your dairy air looks rather ravishing from this vantage point., 37. Please bare with me., 38. Straight of Hormuz., 39. baited breath, 40. vocal chords., 41. tow the line., 42. shoe-in, 43. started to cantor., 44. a mirrow and a chester drawers., 45. Le Maison du HandBurger., 46. stuck in the styx., 47. heart-rendering., 48. morter —, 49. I besiege you to employ the services of two special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation., 50. pus jewel., 51. the Red Hot Chile Peppers., 52. lack-toes intolerant,, 53. pluthora, 54. How do you remove oil from chettar cheese?, 55. unchartered waters., 56. the feint of heart, 57. oparate without interfearance, 58. levy those words with a smile,, 59. bough,, 60. poseable thumb,, 61. pass mustard., 62. cacoughany of sounds, 63. ad homonym,, 64. wanna-bees., 65. It cheers me to find a poet's name in lights on a marquis!, 66. esprit décor., Brake., 67. Cholesteroil, 68. curly cues, 69. ultraviolent radiation —, 70. garbidge station., 71. end-trails,, 72. Bedside Manor, 73. run the gammot, 74. Segway,, 75. above approach,, 76. dead wringers, 77. wrangle an invitation, 78. imposter., 79. rock and role, 80. something that really gets my gander up., 81. When I wake up I have to hack up mukis., 82. Can the Gaul Bladder Envelope the Liver?, 83. Home Remedies to Treat Flem in Throat. (Cf. No. 81.), 84. gutteral., 85. pail in comparison, 86. spreading like wildflowers., 87. I was a skid-roe bulimic., 88. physical year,, 89. blessing in the skies,, 90. horse of