I’m reading House of Holes at the moment. It’s hilarious and dirty, but mostly just hilarious. And DIRTY! Yet somehow, despite the kinky subject matter, the book seems almost … innocent? The playfully surreal aspect, combined with the simple, no-frills writing style, reminds me a lot of Murakami.
Here’s a glossary of terms from Simon and Schuster’s internal style sheet for the book. A sample:
a-holes (38)
assbones (44)
assbuns (199)
asscheek (33)
assclenching (200)
asscrack (239)
The principle reference sources for editors of the book?
- Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed.
- Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.
- Words into Type, 3d ed.
- www.urbandictionary.com
Also:
cocky (meaning “like a cock” not “arrogant”; 271; see query)
cods (232)
come (n., v.; 41; see query)
come-drops (267; see query)
comeload (77)
come ride (156; see query)
comesack (131; see query)
Elsewhere, Simon and Schuster’s style sheet gives the OK to commaless adjective stacking (“e.g., ‘some huge soft heavy sad hangers'”).
House of Holes Glossary | Simon and Schuster