Seeking title of old children's book having to do with synonyms and language

February 3, 2010 12:33 PM

A friend of mine is seeking the title of an old children's book about synonyms and language; his description inside.

[friend's grandparents] had a few children's books around their house. I'm trying to figure out the title or _something_ about one of them so that I can do a search for it in used books. The characters were "non-human" but not animals. They wore little cone hats. The color red was prominent. The main thing about the book is that one of them is given a job to go out and find two words that mean the EXACT same thing. Each time you turn the page, he returns with two more candidates, each one of which is then shown to be different. One example I can still remember is "pliant" and "flexible." I can remember studying each page and becoming very inspired by the slight differences between words.

It concludes with the little guy finally finding two. End and Finish.

posted by chazlarson to Writing & Language (3 answers total)

Response by poster: FWIW, I suppose I should point out that the friend is mid-40s, so I suppose the vintage of the book would be mid-20th century.
posted by chazlarson at 12:36 PM on February 3, 2010

Best answer: Oh, my god. I know this one. I grew up with that book. It's The Chatterlings.
posted by bricoleur at 1:48 PM on February 3, 2010

Response by poster: Confirmed by friend. Chatterlings it is.
posted by chazlarson at 9:51 AM on February 7, 2010