A Miscellany of Weird and Wonderful Facts for Curious Humans Who Have Nothing Better to Do Than Read:

by Jess Zafarris, Shannon Miller

160 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication July 7, 2026

About the author

Jess Zafarris is an author and speaker whose work primarily addresses words and language, but also social media, advertising, communications, and TTRPGs. She’s the author of Once Upon a Word (2020), Words from Hell (2023), and Useless Etymology (2025). A former content director for Writer’s Digest, Adweek, and Ragan Communications, she now joyfully discusses word origins on TikTok and Instagram, cohosts the podcast Words Unravelled, and runs the blog Useless Etymology. She is an adjunct professor at Emerson College, Editor-at-Large for Ragan and PR Daily, a contributor and social media partner for Dictionarycom, a regular speaker for Writer's Digest, and a writer at Indie Agency News. She produces and hosts events including PR Daily’s Social Media Conference. She even dabbles in horror fiction occasionally. Her work and insights have appeared in NPR, The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper’s, and BBC World Service.