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The Accidental Dictionary: The Remarkable Twists and Turns of English Words
Brimming with hidden histories and tantalizing twists, The Accidental Dictionary tells the extraordinary stories behind ordinary words.
Our everyday language is full of surprises; its origins are stranger than you might think. Any word might be knocked and buffeted, subjected to twists and turns, expansions and contractions, happy and unhappy accidents. There are intriguing tales behind even the most familiar terms, and they can say as much about the present as they do the past.
Busking , for instance, originally meant piracy . Grin meant to snarl . A bimbo was a man ; nice meant ignorant ; glamor was magic , and a cupboard was a table . Buxom used to mean obedient ; a cloud was a rock ; raunchy originally meant dirty .
Focusing on one hundred surprising threads in the evolution of English, The Accidental Dictionary reveals the etymological origins and quirky developments that have led to the meanings we take for granted today. It is a weird and wonderful journey into words.
So, let's revel in its randomness and delight in its diversity—our dictionary is indeed accidental.
Our everyday language is full of surprises; its origins are stranger than you might think. Any word might be knocked and buffeted, subjected to twists and turns, expansions and contractions, happy and unhappy accidents. There are intriguing tales behind even the most familiar terms, and they can say as much about the present as they do the past.
Busking , for instance, originally meant piracy . Grin meant to snarl . A bimbo was a man ; nice meant ignorant ; glamor was magic , and a cupboard was a table . Buxom used to mean obedient ; a cloud was a rock ; raunchy originally meant dirty .
Focusing on one hundred surprising threads in the evolution of English, The Accidental Dictionary reveals the etymological origins and quirky developments that have led to the meanings we take for granted today. It is a weird and wonderful journey into words.
So, let's revel in its randomness and delight in its diversity—our dictionary is indeed accidental.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2017
68 people are currently reading
1662 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
July 22, 2019
Queen vs Wife (Still SO true!)
Secretary vs Keeper of Secrets (So true!)
Finance vs Ransom
Flirt vs Sneer
Grin vs Snarl
Girl vs Boy
Man vs Person
Hallucinate vs Deceive
Heartache vs Heartburn vs Lust
Inmate vs Lodger (still a lodger, even though a somewhat permanent one)
Moment vs 90 secs
Myriad vs 10k
Noon vs 3 pm
Oaf vs Elf
Naughty vs Having nothing (which makes sense, in a roundabout way)
Nice vs Ignorant (still is :) )
Nephew vs Grandson
Palaver vs Conversation in different languages
Passenger vs Pilot
Penguin vs Auk
Punk vs Prostitute
Sad vs Satisfied (a bit wise-ish)
Success vs Outcome (good or bad)
Venom vs Love Potion (quite possibly, both!)
Wrong-ish descriptions:
> Pedagogue vs Slave: well, this one was rather as an additional characteristic, since all pedagogues were slaves but not all slaves were pedagogues. {From Wiki: Borrowed from Middle French pedagogue, from Latin paedagogus, from Ancient Greek παιδαγωγός (paidagōgós), from παῖς (paîs, “child”) + ἀγωγός (agōgós, “guide”) (from ἄγω (ágō, “lead”)).}
> Glamour vs Magic. G. still applicable to M but has acquired some additional meanings.
> Peripatetic vs A follower of Socrates. Nope:
1. {From Wiki: The term "Peripatetic" is a transliteration of the ancient Greek word περιπατητικός (peripatêtikos), which means "of walking" or "given to walking about".}
2. Aristotle not Socrates.
Q:
Some of the changes and semantic sidesteps that the words in our language have undergone are unusual, but not unreasonable. The development from a word meaning ‘animal entrails’ to a word meaning ‘waste material’, for instance, isn’t too outlandish, nor is the change from ‘removing waste material’ to ‘misrepresenting the facts’. Put the two meanings side by side and you can see how one might develop into the other.
But then you find out that girls used to be boys, and suddenly nothing makes sense any more. (c)
Q:
Back when it first appeared in the language in the early 1300s, girl was gender-neutral. (As was man, for that matter, but perhaps more on that later.) So when Chaucer mentioned ‘the yonge gerles of the diocise’ in the prologue to the Canterbury Tales (c. 1387), what he really meant was ‘all the young children of the diocese’. Likewise, when William Langland mentioned a Latin grammatical textbook called ‘Gramer for Girles’ in his narrative poem Piers Plowman (c. 1376), he was referring to a grammar book written for all children. (c)
Secretary vs Keeper of Secrets (So true!)
Finance vs Ransom
Flirt vs Sneer
Grin vs Snarl
Girl vs Boy
Man vs Person
Hallucinate vs Deceive
Heartache vs Heartburn vs Lust
Inmate vs Lodger (still a lodger, even though a somewhat permanent one)
Moment vs 90 secs
Myriad vs 10k
Noon vs 3 pm
Oaf vs Elf
Naughty vs Having nothing (which makes sense, in a roundabout way)
Nice vs Ignorant (still is :) )
Nephew vs Grandson
Palaver vs Conversation in different languages
Passenger vs Pilot
Penguin vs Auk
Punk vs Prostitute
Sad vs Satisfied (a bit wise-ish)
Success vs Outcome (good or bad)
Venom vs Love Potion (quite possibly, both!)
Wrong-ish descriptions:
> Pedagogue vs Slave: well, this one was rather as an additional characteristic, since all pedagogues were slaves but not all slaves were pedagogues. {From Wiki: Borrowed from Middle French pedagogue, from Latin paedagogus, from Ancient Greek παιδαγωγός (paidagōgós), from παῖς (paîs, “child”) + ἀγωγός (agōgós, “guide”) (from ἄγω (ágō, “lead”)).}
> Glamour vs Magic. G. still applicable to M but has acquired some additional meanings.
> Peripatetic vs A follower of Socrates. Nope:
1. {From Wiki: The term "Peripatetic" is a transliteration of the ancient Greek word περιπατητικός (peripatêtikos), which means "of walking" or "given to walking about".}
2. Aristotle not Socrates.
Q:
Some of the changes and semantic sidesteps that the words in our language have undergone are unusual, but not unreasonable. The development from a word meaning ‘animal entrails’ to a word meaning ‘waste material’, for instance, isn’t too outlandish, nor is the change from ‘removing waste material’ to ‘misrepresenting the facts’. Put the two meanings side by side and you can see how one might develop into the other.
But then you find out that girls used to be boys, and suddenly nothing makes sense any more. (c)
Q:
Back when it first appeared in the language in the early 1300s, girl was gender-neutral. (As was man, for that matter, but perhaps more on that later.) So when Chaucer mentioned ‘the yonge gerles of the diocise’ in the prologue to the Canterbury Tales (c. 1387), what he really meant was ‘all the young children of the diocese’. Likewise, when William Langland mentioned a Latin grammatical textbook called ‘Gramer for Girles’ in his narrative poem Piers Plowman (c. 1376), he was referring to a grammar book written for all children. (c)
December 30, 2017
As an armchair linguist, I've always been fascinated by the often quite obscure origins of our everyday words, marveling at the ways in which seemingly unconnected terms spring from the same etymology, the ways in which seemingly connected terms spring from different etymologies, and the common misconceptions and the sheer amount of guesswork behind word origins. In The Accidental Dictionary, Jones sets his focus on precisely this phenomena, tracing a selection of words from their origins in Latin and other ancient tongues all the way up through their present usage today.
Most of it was really quite interesting, and I learned a lot, but if you've been subcribed to dictionary.com's Word of the Day since forever like I have, parts of this dictionary are going to seem less mind-blowing than others. Still, I'd recommend it for an entertaining, educational and accessible read on the subject.
Most of it was really quite interesting, and I learned a lot, but if you've been subcribed to dictionary.com's Word of the Day since forever like I have, parts of this dictionary are going to seem less mind-blowing than others. Still, I'd recommend it for an entertaining, educational and accessible read on the subject.
November 17, 2020
An interesting book about different kinds of words, its evolution and history. We know that words evolved in time. The meaning of the words used today maybe different in the past. And the meaning of the words used today may change in the future. 😊
June 14, 2019
Words are chameleons, they start out meaning one thing, and being spelt in a particular way, and before you know it the spelling has changed and they now mean the total opposite to what you thought. In The Accidental Dictionary, Paul Anthony Jones has taken 100 words that almost everyone would know or be familiar with, and peel back the layers of history behind each word to reveal the startlingly different meanings that they had originally.
In this strange and wonderful journey we will discover how alcohol once was eye shadow, a blockbuster was a bomb, hijinks was a drinking game and that a secretary could always keep a secret. The short witty essays on each chosen word are fascinating, you can see the evolution on some words, and others will surprise you in the way that they have flipped and twisted before settling in the form we know them these days. But they will no doubt change and evolve again.
The Accidental Dictionary is both fascinating and rigorous at the same time. Jones writes in an entertaining and informative way, and it is littered liberally with quotes and verse, making this an engaging book to read too. It is a great little book for the etymological nut; and for those that cherish the book, this has a stunning gold leaf print on the cover.
In this strange and wonderful journey we will discover how alcohol once was eye shadow, a blockbuster was a bomb, hijinks was a drinking game and that a secretary could always keep a secret. The short witty essays on each chosen word are fascinating, you can see the evolution on some words, and others will surprise you in the way that they have flipped and twisted before settling in the form we know them these days. But they will no doubt change and evolve again.
The Accidental Dictionary is both fascinating and rigorous at the same time. Jones writes in an entertaining and informative way, and it is littered liberally with quotes and verse, making this an engaging book to read too. It is a great little book for the etymological nut; and for those that cherish the book, this has a stunning gold leaf print on the cover.
October 26, 2016
The Accidental Dictionary – A surprising history of some of our words.
Paul Anthony Jones has once again written a book that tells us a surprising history of some well-known words in the English language. He is already known as an expert etymologist and blogger on the English language and published widely on various books on the English language which have always been interesting and highly readable. The Accidental Dictionary is going to be another book that you will enjoy dipping in and out of, and make you sound like a word nerd when Johnson has done all the work for you.
Who knew that explode originally meant ‘to jeer a performer off a stage’ or fathom originally meant ‘to embrace’, Jones explains the original definition and how long that lasted before it changed in to its newer meaning in the English language.
Who knew that girl was originally a gender-neutral word that referred to girls AND boys, he also gives an example of how Chaucer mentioned it in the Canterbury Tales. Raunchy originally applied to anything was dirty or in bad shape, I suppose in a way it still does when used in the vernacular of today.
The Accidental Dictionary is a book that any word nerd would love to have and can impress people with their knowledge on the original meaning of words. This is a fantastic book, and I might go and drench someone in my local which is not a tiddlywink and when you have discovered what I meant I am sure you will be just as sad!
Paul Anthony Jones has once again written a book that tells us a surprising history of some well-known words in the English language. He is already known as an expert etymologist and blogger on the English language and published widely on various books on the English language which have always been interesting and highly readable. The Accidental Dictionary is going to be another book that you will enjoy dipping in and out of, and make you sound like a word nerd when Johnson has done all the work for you.
Who knew that explode originally meant ‘to jeer a performer off a stage’ or fathom originally meant ‘to embrace’, Jones explains the original definition and how long that lasted before it changed in to its newer meaning in the English language.
Who knew that girl was originally a gender-neutral word that referred to girls AND boys, he also gives an example of how Chaucer mentioned it in the Canterbury Tales. Raunchy originally applied to anything was dirty or in bad shape, I suppose in a way it still does when used in the vernacular of today.
The Accidental Dictionary is a book that any word nerd would love to have and can impress people with their knowledge on the original meaning of words. This is a fantastic book, and I might go and drench someone in my local which is not a tiddlywink and when you have discovered what I meant I am sure you will be just as sad!
August 27, 2019
I'll admit I did not read the full etymology for every word in The Accidental Dictionary: The Remarkable Twists and Turns of English Words, but I did read what each word used to be. My husband and I are intrigued by how words change meaning over time and through people. We took a class together about Old English and learned so much about our own language. English is predominately French and Latin (about 28% each depending on the survey).
We learned about folk etymology which is when a word is changed basically due to a lack of knowledge amongst the people adopting it. Calling Koreans “gooks” is a folk etymology of migug which is the Korean word for American. Americans being oh so intelligent thought the Koreans were saying “me gook” as in “I’m a gook” when they were literally asking if the soldiers were Americans. Awkward.
One of the most entertaining things I learned was that we may all be wrong about abracadabra. You know, the word magicians use when performing a trick to seem like they’re casting a spell or some such nonsense. However, based on an exceptionally old manuscript the word may actually have been...
for the full review visit https://www.literarydragonreviews.web...
We learned about folk etymology which is when a word is changed basically due to a lack of knowledge amongst the people adopting it. Calling Koreans “gooks” is a folk etymology of migug which is the Korean word for American. Americans being oh so intelligent thought the Koreans were saying “me gook” as in “I’m a gook” when they were literally asking if the soldiers were Americans. Awkward.
One of the most entertaining things I learned was that we may all be wrong about abracadabra. You know, the word magicians use when performing a trick to seem like they’re casting a spell or some such nonsense. However, based on an exceptionally old manuscript the word may actually have been...
for the full review visit https://www.literarydragonreviews.web...
May 26, 2020
My second of Jones’s reference books for word nerds (after The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities). I read it over the course of four months, usually just one or two entries per night before bed. While I enjoy discovering the stories behind word usage, the slight problem with a book like this is that the content can be repetitive and sometimes vague (along the lines of, between X century and Y century, this word changed meaning from A to B and we aren’t entirely sure why, but here are C and D possible reasons). The writing is capable but not very lively, and again a ton of hyphens have been missed out after “mid.”
Some favorite word histories:
Heartache originally meant “heartburn”, while heartburn originally meant “lust”!
An inmate was originally a lodger.
A tiddlywink was originally an unlicensed pub (“tiddly” indicating tipsy)
Tit for tat meant “you hit me, I’ll hit you” (via tip for tap).
Some favorite word histories:
Heartache originally meant “heartburn”, while heartburn originally meant “lust”!
An inmate was originally a lodger.
A tiddlywink was originally an unlicensed pub (“tiddly” indicating tipsy)
Tit for tat meant “you hit me, I’ll hit you” (via tip for tap).
December 24, 2016
This book’s an interesting one. On the one hand, I learned a lot about the origins of a number of different words, but on the other, it started to get repetitive. Personally, I think it was just the right length, but you have to bear in mind that not everyone loves words as much as me.
But then, I’ve read the Oxford English Dictionary, and it seems to me that reading this is much more fun, and that it’s also likely to teach you more along the way. What was interesting to me was that so many of the words that we take for granted have long and illustrious histories, with some of them starting out their lives with completely different meanings. Some of them even had the opposite meaning, which was something of an eye-opener.
It’s also interesting to read the historical documents that Jones’ research unearthed, which use the original words in context. The examples would be interesting in their own right, but they also had the side effect of making you learn other things that you wouldn’t pick up on if you were reading a typical dictionary.
Overall then, this is more like a full non-fiction book than a reference book. The Accidental Dictionary is the right title for it, because that’s exactly what it is. Well worth reading.
But then, I’ve read the Oxford English Dictionary, and it seems to me that reading this is much more fun, and that it’s also likely to teach you more along the way. What was interesting to me was that so many of the words that we take for granted have long and illustrious histories, with some of them starting out their lives with completely different meanings. Some of them even had the opposite meaning, which was something of an eye-opener.
It’s also interesting to read the historical documents that Jones’ research unearthed, which use the original words in context. The examples would be interesting in their own right, but they also had the side effect of making you learn other things that you wouldn’t pick up on if you were reading a typical dictionary.
Overall then, this is more like a full non-fiction book than a reference book. The Accidental Dictionary is the right title for it, because that’s exactly what it is. Well worth reading.
December 21, 2017
History is the discourse about the events of the past, and alongside etymology there is no other study that probes into the way language and society changes. The Accidental Dictionary then is for any reader who can and does appreciate the way our language alters over time, and how culture can both influence and be influenced by said language. Paul Anthony Jones has written an approachable, wonderful book that allows the reader to dig, or even simply dip their toe, into the vast network of language and see for themselves how the words we use everyday are not simply abstract representations.
Words are real breathing individuals with complex pasts and histories, and the beauty of a book like this is that it allows us to step back from language and truly reflect on it. Because language is so intuitive it's easy to take words for granted; to simply use words to communicate and then move on. But the Accidental Dictionary asks more from the reader. Jones's book is an invitation to really reflect on the fact that words haver a real power and place in our world, and therefore we should take the time to consider the historical, cultural, psychological, economical, and philosophical weight to them.
Anyone can use words, but only a few will take the time consider that the pencil their using on their exam use to mean paintbrush, or penis depending on the situation.
Words are real breathing individuals with complex pasts and histories, and the beauty of a book like this is that it allows us to step back from language and truly reflect on it. Because language is so intuitive it's easy to take words for granted; to simply use words to communicate and then move on. But the Accidental Dictionary asks more from the reader. Jones's book is an invitation to really reflect on the fact that words haver a real power and place in our world, and therefore we should take the time to consider the historical, cultural, psychological, economical, and philosophical weight to them.
Anyone can use words, but only a few will take the time consider that the pencil their using on their exam use to mean paintbrush, or penis depending on the situation.
September 30, 2019
3.75 stars. For those of us who have never really tried to get outside of our present-centric mindset, it's a shocking reminder that even the most educated of linguists struggle to know just why our language turned out the way it did. We see clearly that the faux concreteness of erudition based on our written language is built upon the shifting sands of ever-changing meanings and usages. I'm excited to see how much language has changed by the end of my lifetime, especially when I date myself by using the phrase "just google it", which will most likely have taken its place along AOL, Myspace, and the dinosaurs.
January 8, 2018
It took me a few days to read this, in part because of work being really intense and health trying to outdo work. Nevertheless, it's a quick and fun read and I adored it. It's not for children, but language-liking teens and adults will have a great time with it!
Jones takes a selection of common words in everyday use and shows how they not only don't mean what they originally meant, but some mean the exact opposite and some have less than nothing to do with their original meaning! While those who have paid attention to their Greek and Latin roots may not be surprised by those original meanings (such as that of affiliate for instance) some of them are actually stunning.
Jones has a warm sense of humor and clearly loves his topic. I would recommend this to anyone who likes language and isn't a prescriptivist. Don't miss it.
Jones takes a selection of common words in everyday use and shows how they not only don't mean what they originally meant, but some mean the exact opposite and some have less than nothing to do with their original meaning! While those who have paid attention to their Greek and Latin roots may not be surprised by those original meanings (such as that of affiliate for instance) some of them are actually stunning.
Jones has a warm sense of humor and clearly loves his topic. I would recommend this to anyone who likes language and isn't a prescriptivist. Don't miss it.
December 31, 2017
Unfortunately, this book was not very interesting to me. I thought that many of the words chosen lacked any surprise or unusual factor. I also thought many of the paragraph descriptions could have been shortened to 1-2 sentences. I did not read it all and only read words that seemed to have a more unusual back story. I skipped things like "cupboard originally meant table" as that seems pretty obvious. Other I skipped: inmate, ostracism, and raunchy.
January 16, 2022
Paul Anthony Jones's "The Accidental Dictionary" is an enjoyable read that surveys the evolution of a collection of words whose meanings have changed sometimes quite drastically over the course of their history. Each chapter is only a few pages and contains interesting tales of etymology, history, and linguistic change.
The book would have benefited from more work to tie it all together at the beginning and the end, but the journey of it is still good -- and it makes you ponder how much language will change in the ensuing years as well.
The book would have benefited from more work to tie it all together at the beginning and the end, but the journey of it is still good -- and it makes you ponder how much language will change in the ensuing years as well.
February 9, 2018
This was a solidly OK book. I thought I'd be more interested in etymology - maybe I didn't care about the words picked, or I haven't been in the right mood, or something - but I read a few and then skimmed through the rest. I think this would be great as a coffee table book, but I'll be returning it to the library and probably not thinking about it again.
March 26, 2018
This is an interesting book of random words and their histories. We all know that words change over time but the author has found some interesting historical backgrounds to common and uncommon words. I liked “myriad” and “man” . Who knew that the old version of the word for man, “wer” survives in the word, “werewolf”? I have a few quibbles with author. People used ice boxes in their homes before refrigerators instead of ice houses. And neither ice boxes nor ice houses actually made ice. They were used to store ice. And nowadays, in baseball scoring a “hat trick” is striking out three times, instead of hitting three home runs in a game, although the older meaning still exists in dictionaries. There is also a terms for striking out four times, golden sombrero, used in scoring. But these are small issues.Since I have studied other languages it is interesting to see the relationship between English and the Latin-based languages after 1066 and the influences from other cultures in the period of world exploration.
December 31, 2019
Not exactly scintillating reading but informative. Alphabetic list of 100 words from Affiliate to Zombie are discussed providing linguistic origins and follows the word through time as its meaning changes dramatically. Some developments are obvious but others had an odd and convoluted journey to their modern meaning. I particularly liked the inclusion of words sharing the same root as the one discussed. The range of words really shows how English developed as a true mixed bag of Norse, old English, Norman French, Latin, Gaelic, etc..
Bibliog lists the many dictionaries consulted from a 1623 English Dictionary:an Interpretation of Hard English Words up to two dictionaries published in 2008, one on etymology and one on slang.
Bibliog lists the many dictionaries consulted from a 1623 English Dictionary:an Interpretation of Hard English Words up to two dictionaries published in 2008, one on etymology and one on slang.
January 30, 2018
A pleasant enough little book about oddball etymology. the concept is that the current meaning of many words has strayed far from the meaning they had when they first entered the language. "Clue" (spelled "clew," originally meant ball of string; when "pencil" entered the language, users of the word meant what we would calla paintbrush, and so on.
A good book for bedtime reading: short entries, interesting enough information, clearly written, non-taxing, and easy to put down as eyes got heavy.
I won't remember many of the details, but I will be alert to situations when older uses of words seem to be implied.
A good book for bedtime reading: short entries, interesting enough information, clearly written, non-taxing, and easy to put down as eyes got heavy.
I won't remember many of the details, but I will be alert to situations when older uses of words seem to be implied.
August 2, 2020
I'm one of those people who gets cranky when people use "literally" to mean "figuratively", so it's probably no bad thing to be reminded that the meaning of many words changes over time. And that's entirely what this book is about: a list of words with their original meanings, and (as far as possible) how they have drifted over time to the meanings we know today.
I suspect this is better read as a long term project, a word or two a day, than cover-to-cover as I did. Read straight through, the pattern of the entries (source of the word, how English first acquired it, drift since then, modern meaning) becomes a mite repetitive.
I suspect this is better read as a long term project, a word or two a day, than cover-to-cover as I did. Read straight through, the pattern of the entries (source of the word, how English first acquired it, drift since then, modern meaning) becomes a mite repetitive.
September 9, 2018
In principal this book sounded like a good one for word nerds. Although I appreciated the explanation of why we have the words we do, some of the writing was repetitive. I felt the end sentence after each word can have been revised, as they consistently centered on some extent to "this is how we know the word today." I also wanted to know more of why the author chose to write about these words, how he researched their path into our modern language. If you want to understand more of how words evolve over time, this book is a good start.
January 15, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! This is not a book that you sit down and read for for an hour at a time.
It a great book to have in place, in easy reach, so you can read a couple of entries at a time. The stories and history of the entries are amazing. For example a "tiddlywink" was a unlicensed pub"! Trousers, Slogan, galore, slob and Tory all have their roots in the Irish language.
So take your time and don't read it in a "jiffy" which the dictionary tells us is exactly 33.564 picoseconds (a trillionth of a second), who knew.
It a great book to have in place, in easy reach, so you can read a couple of entries at a time. The stories and history of the entries are amazing. For example a "tiddlywink" was a unlicensed pub"! Trousers, Slogan, galore, slob and Tory all have their roots in the Irish language.
So take your time and don't read it in a "jiffy" which the dictionary tells us is exactly 33.564 picoseconds (a trillionth of a second), who knew.
March 22, 2024
I really enjoyed being able to trace the strange journey various words have taken to arrive at their current meaning. To find out things like cloud meant stones? Or that bimbo referred to men? It was delightful. My only gripe was that for as often as words from Middle/Old English and other languages were used I wish there had been some phonetics written out so I could have a hope of pronouncing them correctly. Fantastic book!!
August 22, 2024
With 15 years of exploring the history of words on my Wordfoolery blog and in my books I love how some words have changed their meaning entirely with time so the premise of this book (how words’ meanings change) was perfect for me. Inevitably some were ones I’d already investigated but others have been added to my list for future detective work.
Good variety of words, well written, enjoyable read, not too academic. Recommended. A strong addition to my research shelf.
Good variety of words, well written, enjoyable read, not too academic. Recommended. A strong addition to my research shelf.
June 21, 2018
Very interesting. I've always wondered how and why words shift in meaning, and this book does a good job of explaining that in its examples. I've often thought that the problem with time travel would be that you would be using words in a way that isn't understood by the people in that time. This book is confirmation of that. LOL
October 22, 2023
While some of the word derivations were interesting, on the whole this book did not provide enough to make it a keeper. It is a book that might stand by a bedside for an occasional pickup, but I did not find enough cohesion or interest in the entries to merit keeping it, as there are so many other interesting books to be read.
May 6, 2017
A lovely mixed back of etymological oddities. Fun to dip into fo short, sharp blasts of word origins. Most of which I have in turn been boring my class with, the morning after having read. Recommended for anyone interested in how the English language evolves.
March 21, 2018
Find out the secret meaning of words. Cloud = Stone, Wife = Woman, Nice = Dumb. Annoy your friends with linguistic facts. Have something to talk to your loved ones at dinner. Each entry is a word. These entries make a book.
April 26, 2018
A wonderfully fun and informative read! The author’s style of writing is the style of nonfiction writing I love best, book educational, yet fun and very giggle-worthy to boot. I learned a great deal about he English language and am extremely sad (i.e. satisfied) with my reading experience.
December 25, 2018
This is a fun read, particularly if taken in small bites. It is endlessly fascinating, and I was constantly calling Joel over to tell him about the latest word that I was reading (I think I did this for every word in the dictionary).
August 12, 2017
Great book
April 21, 2018
Fantastic! I loved it so much it annoyed me!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews