Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to Do with Pigs: And Other Fascinating Facts about the Language from Canada's Word Lady

by Katherine Barber

Did you know that the word "travel" is derived from an instrument of torture? That "tragedy" originally was something to do with goats? That "grammar" and "glamour" started out as one and the same word? These and many other fascinating and surprising tidbits about the history of words are revealed in this delightful volume, many culled from interviews first aired on CBC Radio 1, featuring the "Word Lady," Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Katherine Barber. In the lively, witty, and entertaining style that has won her so many fans in Canada and around the world, Katherine distills the rich information contained in the immense Oxford English Dictionary to create intriguing and entertaining little histories of hundreds of the most common (and interesting) words in our language. The words are arranged thematically by season. Readers can frolic through the many words from the barnyard, the garden, and the cottage in the Spring, feast on Summer's fruits and all of the colourful stories to be found there, gear up for back-to-school by learning the truth behind algebra, grammar, and dunces, and discover the real reason that Christmas shopping is always such a feverish pursuit. Along the way, you'll follow words back through Old English, medieval French, Anglo-Saxon, ancient Greek, Latin, Arabic, as well as the languages of China, the Indian subcontinent, and Canada's Aboriginal peoples. With its accessible conversational style and captivating content, Katherine Barber's Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to Do with Pigs is a book readers will want to dip into time and again - that is, if they can ever put it down.

Genres: Nonfiction, Linguistics, History, Canada, Language

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 24, 2007

Reviews

[L.C. Tang · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a gift to me. It has a red cover, and it's a paperback that I hold in my hands. On Amazon, the white cover is for paperback, and the red cover is for hardcover. This is not so. If you purchase the book on Amazon, you may end up with either color cover, if that matters. This book can be read in short snippets, or the reader can jump to parts that are of interest. It is not necessarily a must to read in order by page from front to back. I skipped to parts that interested me. I appreciated the table of contents organized into the four sections titled The Four Seasons. The preface introduces the reader to the author and a bit of her life as a Canadian radio host for CBC. Throughout the entire book, there were many references to Canada. Pages 204-207 were somewhat interesting, as they were about Hebrew words: Purim, Hamantaschen, Jubilee, Shibboleth, Behemoth, and Maven. The index starts on page 211 and is a great reference tool. I don't totally agree with the author's explanation of Behemoth without mentioning the possibility of a dinosaur. A fast, easy read from one of the foremost authorities on Canadian English, as Katherine Barber has been editor-in-chief of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary since 1991.

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book you should pick up and just read a word here and there.

I did not read it this way, instead, I read it like a normal book, reading about 20 to 25 pages at a time, and found entries just blurring together. I likely did a disservice to the book by reading it this way-- or maybe my interest in etymology isn't that big?

[Pascale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fun if you love etymology. Some good chuckles to be had when sharing regionalisms with colleagues!

[Lezley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended by Carol
A book that should be in everyone's library. The book is written with a keen sense of humour and has lots of interesting information about the history of words.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this copy at the annual indexing conference, where the author was the keynote speaker. Her talk was more or less the short history of the English language given at the beginning of the book, but with extra tidbits of interest to indexers. I also spoke with her during the conference and found her friendly and interested in all aspects of language.

The book, as I understand it, was originally written for short broadcasts on Canadian radio, and the writing style reflects that. It is easy to read, sometimes funny, and contains lots of interesting information about the etymology of different words.

The only quibble I had is with the index (!) The index of words only contains the ones mentioned in the section headings, not the other words she discusses in the text. Those discussions are therefore difficult to find.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

More entertaining than I'd expected. I think it would have been a better book to read with a computer at hand, rather than on a plane, because I kept coming up with more questions. "Where does THIS word come from?" "Well how about THIS one?"

The author obviously expects people to jump around, rather than reading cover-to-cover as I did, so a lot of information is repeated within the entries.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a fan of etymology and words, then you will love this book. It clusters words together and tells you about their origin and usage. What was even more fascinating was the historical aspects of the book and discussion about different conquering groups and how it influenced the language especially in regard to pronunciation and spelling of words.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was very interesting. I did find the authors writing style to be quite dry; there seemed to me to be very few places where any personality showed through. The etymologies themselves were intriguing and often delightful but overall I found her writing to be very "just the facts m'am." I don't mean that as a bad thing, I still enjoyed the book. That is just how I found it.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm an English nerd. I admit it.

[EssentiallyMeagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent!

[Trudy Jaskela]

I didn't read it.