Books, Reference, Words & Language, Etymology

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Roy Blount Jr.
Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, ... With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Hardcover) (Release Date: 2008-10-14)

Ali G: How many words does you know?Noam Chomsky: Normally, humans, by maturity, have tens of thousands of them.Ali G: What is some of 'em?—Da Ali G Show Did you know that both mammal and matter derive from baby talk? Have you noticed how wince makes you wince? Ever wonder why so many h-words have to do with breath? Roy Blount Jr. certainly has, and after forty years of making a living using words in every medium, print or electronic, except greeting cards, he still can’t get over his ABCs. In Alphabet Juice, he celebrates the electricity, the juju, the sonic and kinetic energies, of letters and their combinations. Blount does not prescribe proper English. The franchise he claims is “over the counter.” Three and a half centuries ago, Thomas Blount produced Blount’s Glossographia, the first dictionary to explore derivations of English words. This Blount’s Glossographia takes that pursuit to other levels, from Proto-Indo-European roots to your epiglottis. It rejects ...

Henry Hitchings
The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Hardcover) (Release Date: 2008-09-16)

Words are essential to our everyday lives. An average person spends his or her day enveloped in conversations, e-mails, phone calls, text messages, directions, headlines, and more. But how often do we stop to think about the origins of the words we use? Have you ever thought about which words in English have been borrowed from Arabic, Dutch, or Portuguese? Try admiral, landscape, and marmalade, just for starters.  The Secret Life of Words is a wide-ranging account not only of the history of English language and vocabulary, but also of how words witness history, reflect social change, and remind us of our past. Henry Hitchings delves into the insatiable, ever-changing English language and reveals how and why it has absorbed words from more than 350 other languages—many originating from the most unlikely of places, such as shampoo from Hindi and kiosk from Turkish. From the Norman Conquest to the present day, Hitchings narrates the story of English as a living archive of our ...

John McWhorter
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English
by Gotham (Hardcover)

A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar Why do we say “I am reading a catalog” instead of “I read a catalog”? Why do we say “do” at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Language distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history. Covering such turning points as the little-known Celtic and Welsh influences on English, the impact of the Viking raids and the Norman Conquest, and the Germanic invasions that started it all during the fifth century ad, John McWhorter narrates this colorful evolution with vigor. Drawing on revolutionary genetic and linguistic research as well as a cache of remarkable trivia about the origins of English words and syntax patterns, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue ultimately demonstrates the arbitrary, maddening nature of English— and its ironic simplicity due ...

100 Words To Make You Sound Smart
by Houghton Mifflin (Paperback)

The newest title in the popular 100 Words series is an informativeand entertaining resource that can help anyone be right on themoney when looking for words that will make a point, seal the deal,or just keep folks listening. Chosen by the editors of the AmericanHeritage Dictionaries, these words will appeal to anyone who wantsto be a more compelling communicator—as a worker, consumer,advocate, friend, dinner companion, or even as a romantic prospect.The book includes a colorful variety of words, including handywords of just one syllable (such as glib) and words derived from thenames of famous people (such as Freudian slip and Machiavellian).There are expressions from popular culture (Catch-22) and words thatdate back to classical civilization (spartan and stoic). Each word isclearly defined and shown in context with quotations from contemporarysources: magazines, newspapers, broadcast media, movies, andtelevision. For many words, quotations from distinguished authors ...

Jeremy Butterfield
A Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare
by Oxford University Press, USA (Hardcover)

When James Murray compiled the OED in the 19th century, he used a small army of volunteers--and thousands upon thousands of paper slips--to track down the English language. Today, linguists use massive computer power--including the world's largest language databank, the Oxford Corpus, which contains more than two billion words--to determine for the first time definitively how the English language is used. From evidence contained in the gargantuan Oxford Corpus, Jeremy Butterfield here uncovers a wealth of fascinating facts about the English language. Where does our vocabulary come from? How do word meanings change? How is our language really being used? This entertaining book has the up-to-date and authoritative answers to all the key questions about our language. Butterfield takes a thorough look at the English language and exposes its peculiarities and penchants, its development and difficulties, revealing exactly how it operates. We learn, for instance, that we use ...

Ammon Shea
Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages
by Perigee Trade (Hardcover)

An obsessive word lover’s account of reading the Oxford English Dictionary cover to cover. “I’m reading the OED so you don’t have to. If you are interested in vocabulary that is both spectacularly useful and beautifully useless, read on...” So reports Ammon Shea, the tireless, word-obsessed, and more than slightly masochistic author of Reading the OED. The word lover’s Mount Everest, the OED has enthralled logophiles since its initial publication 80 years ago. Weighing in at 137 pounds, it is the dictionary to end all dictionaries. In 26 chapters filled with sharp wit, sheer delight, and a documentarian’s keen eye, Shea shares his year inside the OED, delivering a hair-pulling, eye-crossing account of reading every word, and revealing the most obscure, hilarious, and wonderful gems he discovers along the way.

Albert Jack
Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day
by HarperCollins (Hardcover) (Release Date: 2005-11-01)

Mad hatter . . . pie in the sky . . . egg on your face. We use these phrases every day, yet how many of us know what they really mean or where they came from? From bringing home the bacon to leaving no stone unturned, the English language is peppered with hundreds of common idioms borrowed from ancient traditions and civilizations throughout the world. In Red Herrings and White Elephants, Albert Jack has uncovered the amazing and sometimes downright bizarre stories behind many of our most familiar and eccentric modes of expression: If you happen to be a bootlegger, your profession recalls the Wild West outlaws who sold illegal alcohol by concealing slender bottles of whiskey in their boots. If you're on cloud nine, you owe a nod to the American Weather Bureau's classification of clouds, the ninth topping out all others at a mountainous 40,000 feet. If you opt for the hair of the dog the morning after, you're following the advice of medieval English doctors, who recommended ...

Myrna LaFleur Brooks
Exploring Medical Language: A Student-Directed Approach
by Mosby (Paperback)

Master the medical terminology you'll need for success in the health care with this unique, objective-based approach! Focused entirely on medical terminology and vocabulary, this trusted text helps you understand complex medical terms with a proven step-by-step strategy, building each word from its foundation. With a logical, body-systems organization and engaging terminology exercises throughout, it's your key to communicating confidently and effectively with other health care professionals.Systematic approach to terminology prepares you to recognize and define new words as you encounter them and build the medical vocabulary you'll need in the health care setting.Pronunciation key provides quick access to frequently referenced material.Complimentary and Alternative Medicine terms boxes highlight words and phrases associated with this increasingly popular discipline.Case studies encourage critical thinking and demonstrate how to apply the information you've learned.Terminology ...

Anu Garg
The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words
by Plume (Paperback)

From the creator of the popular A.Word.A.Day e-mail newsletter A collection of some of the most interesting stories and fascinating origins behind more than 300 words, names, and terms by the founder of WordSmith.org. Did you know: There’s a word for the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell? Petrichor, combining petros (Greek for stone) and ichor (the fluid that flows in the veins of Greek gods). An illeist is one who refers to oneself in the third person. There’s a word for feigning lack of interest in something while actually desiring it: accismus. For any aspiring deipnosophist (a good conversationalist at meals) or devoted Philomath (a lover of learning), this anthology of entertaining etymology is an ideal way to have fun while getting smarter.

Christine Kenneally
The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language
by Penguin (Non-Classics) (Paperback)

An accessible exploration of a burgeoning new field: the incredible evolution of language The first popular book to recount the exciting, very recent developments in tracing the origins of language, The First Word is at the forefront of a controversial, compelling new field. Acclaimed science writer Christine Kenneally explains how a relatively small group of scientists that include Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker assembled the astounding narrative of how the fundamental process of evolution produced a linguistic ape—in other words, us. Infused with the wonder of discovery, this vital and engrossing book offers us all a better understanding of the story of humankind.

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