The country folk say "howdy-do" but here in town, it's "yo"; they'll say it in the country too in twenty years or so.

Rolling Stone magazine has called songwriter Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields "the Cole Porter of his generation"; O, The Oprah Magazine has hailed cartoonist Roz Chast as "the wryest pen since Dorothy Parker's." Together they have crafted a witty book in celebration of two-letter words, focusing on the 101 such words that count in Scrabble. Featuring four-line poems by Merritt and colour illustrations by Chast, 101 Two-Letter Words covers familiar words (go, hi, no, ox) as well as obscure ones (ka, oe, qi, xu). With dark wit and clever wordplay, it will delight, not just Scrabble players and crossword puzzle fanatics, but anyone in thrall to the weirdest corners of the English language.