500 Words You Should Know

by Caroline Taggart, George Walker (Illustrations)

A book to inspire logophiles and the rest of us to use uncommon words in their correct context. Perhaps you have wanted to ameliorate your atavistic lexicon, engage in a little intellectual badinage or you have been discombobulated by tricky diction? 500 Words You Should Know has you covered. This book will inspire the reader to use uncommon words in their correct context, utilize the English language to its full potential and test themselves on the words they think they already know. It is a book for the appreciator of correct usage and contains words you thought you knew ( decimate, caveat, nemesis ), words you should know ( euphemism, diatribe, tautology ) and just a few that you might want to know ( peripatetic, shibboleth, callipygian ). This essential cornucopia of 500 of the best, trickiest and oft-misused words in the English language are arranged thematically. Each word is dissected, with a laconic gloss of etymology and historical and modern usage, to give a full understanding and effectively adopt the word into vocabulary in its proper context. 1. Terms of Endearment, Respect and Admiration - it's easy to confuse complement and compliment 2. Terms of Abuse, Criticism and Mild Contempt - the Xbox player had an etoliated look about him 3. It Depends on My Mood - a frat house is likely to be rabelaisian at least some of the time 4. Let's Give It Some Thought - it's best to be discrete when talking about disparate opinions 5. The Rough with the Smooth - celebrity culture feeds on schadenfreude 6. Heaven, Hell and the Bits in Between - weekends are for peregrinations around the mall 7. Science and the Arts - some readers of this book may be guilty of elision . Readers interested in everything that eclectic English has to offer, who wish to celebrate its majesty and depth and to ensure that they always use the language pedantically , this veracious cornucopia of knowledge will have them confabulating with the literary cognoscenti in no time.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Reference, Writing, Words, Self Help, Research

208 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2014

About the author

I was an editor for 30 years before Michael O’Mara Books asked me to write what became I Used to Know That. I think its success took everyone by surprise – it certainly did me – but it led to my writing a lot of other books and finally, after about three years, feeling able to tell people I was an author. It's a nice feeling.

Until recently the book I was most proud of was The Book of London Place Names (Ebury), partly because I am passionate about London and partly because, having written ten or so books before that, I finally felt I was getting the hang of it.

Now I have to confess I’m really excited by my first venture into continuous narrative. For A Slice of Britain: around the country by cake (AA) I travelled the country investigating, writing about and eating cake. From Cornish Saffron Cake to Aberdeen Butteries, I interviewed about 25 people who are baking cakes, biscuits and buns that are unique to their region, part of their heritage – and pretty darned delicious. The Sunday Times reviewed it and described me as ‘engaging, greedy and droll’, which pleased me enormously.

Reviews

[Fatima · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was helpful but some definitions were described excessively.(they confused me)

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clearly laid out, and revealing many interesting insights into the etymology of words, this books contains many more than 500, through the related words given with many of the explanations. However, the words themselves are likely to be already known to a reader or to be thoroughly out of place in conversation, so are not that useful. Taggart also has a horrible tendency to talk about words and their definitions in terms of what is correct or proper, which to the modern linguist is an archaic view, and although she includes many more modern definitions, the prevailing impression is that she is resistant to language change, just like the 'purists' she repeatedly mentions (the idea of purity in relation to the English language is laughable, and would entirely detract from the beauty and fascination that can be found within it). She also tries to maintain phonology and morphology from French and Italian loan words, which is an unnecessary practice, but is all the more confusing as she does not do the same for German loans.
An interesting look into the etymology of some of our words, but that's as far as it goes.

[D.K. Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have quite strict rules to decide on what makes a good fiction book but how do you decide for non-fiction? Especially given how different many non--fiction books are. Caroline Taggart's book is a good example.

On paper, a kind of mini-dictionary-cum-glossary of some words which you might know and others you don't isn't exactly the kind of thing which has you swiftly reaching for your wallet to buy. It sounds about as much fun as eating sawdust and probably just about as much use too. After all, it doesn't give a complete list of anything, most words are just part of our 'intellectual' (at least) lexicon anyway, and who actually ever reads a dictionary? You 'dip' into a reference book like that. You can't even do this with Taggart's book as she's arranged words by them rather than strict alphabetical order.

So why have I rated the book so highly? Because, despite all the above, it is superb quite simply!

Taggart manages an incredibly fine line of not giving too many outlandish words which will never be of any use nor throwing up too many we already know and use all the time. Of course, this will change from person to person but my feeling is that the words she's chosen are probably about right for each reader. There was no more than a handful out of the 500 which I felt unlikely to ever want to use. About 50% I know and use, another 20-25% I understand to read but wouldn't necessarily use naturally myself. The remaining quarter to a third are either new to me or words I've often wondered exactly what they're supposed to mean.

This is an ideal ratio. I've tightened up my understanding of words I know and the book will remain on my shelf with a pencil alongside to go through again and underline words I'm going to add to my vocabulary. As a professional writer I'm painfully aware of my 'little darlings' - words and expressions I use constantly - so Taggart's book is going to be a useful tool to help me 'mix it up a bit' and gain a little more variety.

The icing on the cake is the humour which comes with all this. I get the feeling that Caroline Taggart is a nice person, someone you could have a laugh with, and not someone who you'd find irritating or 'grammar nazi'ish. I could be entirely wrong, I know, but that's how her writing feels and that's the point. She's not cocky, she doesn't try to be hilarious. It's all good-natured, informative, jolly kind of stuff; and as a result Taggart gets the balance right.

So, whether you want to improve your word power, or you're just intrigued by words which are slightly more complex than our everyday Anglo-Saxon-based lexicon, or you just want something light yet intelligent to dip into - '500 Words You Should Know' is a damned good contender for the spot.

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

You should know these words- there is a cornucopia of knowledge within the covers. Don’t be discombobulated, the author presents vocabulary well. Text is sized wonderfully and the vocabulary words in bold with adequate space between.
I’ve reviewed many books of this type and this stands out. The author not only alphabetized the words but chunked them by chapter according to subject matter. This isn’t a dictionary of favorite words but a collection of intelligent vocabulary to expand your usage of the the English language. Buy it- you’ll be glad you did.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

[Mark Kriedemann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect book if you're on a trip through the country and still want to look at the scenery every now and again! Heaps of interesting notes on particularly the various french borrow-words in english, as well as the obligatory notes on the plethora of latin roots. Very pleasingly, the author also goes to the effort of drawing connections between lots of the 500 included words, noting the different degrees to which closely related words express a certain sentiment. Another great feature is that the 500 words are divvied up according to the context in which they are normally used, so you'll be able to use this almost as a thesaurus, or more likely if you're simply looking for more subtle ways of expressing things pertaining to a certain social scene. The main downside is a very general one that is recurring throughout the book. This is that there are numerous words that seem to have been given sparse analytical treatment. This mainly manifested in there not actually being a clear definition given for a word, but instead simply some example that gives an impression of how it is to be used, but doesn't really contribute to a subtle understanding of it. Overall, really fun book though. I'll be using it frequently in the future!

[Olga Gibbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading this book I have found the title very presumptuous and self-assured: "500 words you should know", and as a result of the title and my expectations for this book, this book has fallen short.
It would've been more appropriate to name the book "500 words you should know if you're writing a historical fiction", as there were many archaic words which won't be used in today's conversational, spoken English, let alone by younger generations.
Majority of the words would've worked best for a writer, writing a period drama set in late 19th-20th century.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2014, 500 Words You Should Know does what it says on the cover. The words are catalogued under different sections, and include an often humorous description of their correct use. That said, many of you will know most of the words listed as well as their correct usage, so the book only really teaches you anything for less than half of the time. The style and presentation go some way to make up for this, and so it makes an enjoyable read.

[Anny Veddes · Rating 5 out of 5]

fatuous and flagrantly feckless. just joshing. it's worthy of magnanimous kudos. my fave chapter was 'science and the arts'.

I never knew about Tantalus or that patois was french for dialect. I also thought epicurean had more to do with horses than anything else. So I learned some good shtuff, will read more books like this in the future.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book to have by the bed to dip into -- I read it over a period of 8 months. Some of the entries are entertaining, and have interesting and/or amusing back stories.

But it would be better if the whole book were organised alphabetically, rather than in thematic sections, and too many entries almost seemed to forget that the key point is defining the word.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a lover of words I could not fail to enjoy this book. I just need to work out now how to incorporate some of these into my everyday language if only to totally confuse the person I am speaking to . Words such as discombobulated, juxtaposition, lachrymose, perspicacious and rambunctious are an absolute joy to say.

[Jane Riordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I read this too soon after Caroline Taggart's other book - 500 Beautiful Words You Should Know - because it didn't have quite the same impact.

A lesson in the fact that we actually know so many words and so much language that we just don't use.

Something to dip into, rather than read.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt a bit like reading a dictionary rather than an interesting exploration of language. A lot of words were common place, and even when they weren't, the descriptions were long-winded and not very interesting.

[Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to pick up when there's a spare minute

[JoAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Educational

I learnt a lot of new words in this book and even found out interesting facts about words I did know but didn't know the meaning behind it. A good book.

[Oghma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a great idea but there were too many terms derived from Latin for my taste.

[Zoë · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting bits and pieces learned, and chirpy style, but I'd have liked more steer on entomology and origins / links of words, rather than lots of illustrations of their usage.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad as ‘books in words’ go. Some knew ones for me. The style is witty and I liked the layout.

[Sybiee Colvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these

[Elruin Elmsroot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just a word: "Garbage".

[Amber Hardisty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting read. Learnt some new words.

[Barry Cosgrave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rabelaisian
Hooty Tooty

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting little book. I would have appreciated a pronunciation guide of some sort - some words had a pronunciation guide but others didn't. I did come across some interesting words I didn't know. Callipygian would have to be the one I like the sound of best, although I can't see myself ever using it!

[Faridah HJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just too many words that are not likely to be used these days but can be useful for EFL learners especially school students who want to practise their creative writing. It is much useful to the learners if the book is also provided with the phonetic notation.

[Emilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book- words I would never have thought useful but that keep coming up in my speech now. Perfect for long journeys.

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love books about words! so this is just right for me. nicely divided into easy categories. fun to go through and see what you know and what you need to learn.

[Kimhu · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of good words to use to impress

[LittlePiscesReading · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a decent enough book. However, I had hoped that the words would be less common or less in use but it was an interesting selection. I didn't quite understand why some words were included in some sections either and it would have been nice if there had been a more organised pronunciation guide.
I really enjoyed learning about the way some definitions changed over the years and the etymology.

[Becky Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

#partner | noun, log • o • phile - a lover of words 📖
I am most definitely a logophile. I gobble up words. I write down new favorites. I like to try them out, feel the way they sound in my mouth. And I thoroughly enjoyed this book even if my teenage daughter was like “Mom, that book is basically a dictionary. Why are you reading a dictionary?” 😂
While it does have some similarities to a dictionary, 500 WORDS YOU SHOULD KNOW is infinitely more entertaining. I already knew a large majority of the words, but I did add some new favorites and enjoyed reading the clever definitions and examples given. My only quibble is that the words are thematically organized, and I found some of the word choices to be odd for the theme they were placed under. Also, it would have been nice to have pronunciation guides so I can ensure I am saying these lovely words correctly. 4/5 🌟 Add it to the gift list for any word aficionados in your family or friend circle. ☺️| Thank you to @firefly.books for sending me this book. All opinions are my own.