A whole year's worth of linguistic curiosities, just waiting to be discovered.
Within these pages you might leap back in time, learn about linguistic trivia, follow a curious thread or wonder at the web of connections in the English language.
1 January quaaltagh (n.) the first person you meet on New Year's Day
1 April dorbellist (n.) a fool, a dull-witted dolt
12 May word-grubber (n.) someone who uses obscure or difficult words in everyday conversation
25 September theic (adj.) an excessive drinker of tea
24 December doniferous (adj.) carrying a gift
Paul Anthony Jones has unearthed a wealth of strange and forgotten words: illuminating some aspect of the day, or simply telling a cracking good yarn, each reveals a story. Written with a light touch that belies the depth of research it contains, this is both a fascinating compendium of etymology and a captivating historical miscellany. Dip into this beautiful book to be delighted and intrigued throughout the year.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"A treasure-trove of rare words ... beautifully designed (that shade of blue is wonderful), and perfect either for dipping into every morning to learn a new word of the day, or for reading at a rather more headlong pace, as I found I was doing once I dipped my head into this wonderful cabinet of language trivia" -- Dr Oliver Tearle, InterestingLiterature.com; "I started reading these delightful daily doses of etymology last week, and plan to keep the book at my bedside for the whole of the year to come" - Bookish Beck; "The perfect book to dip in and out of" -- Short Book & Scribes; "There's something about words which soothes my soul and to have chance to take a look at words which have fallen out of common use and yet, when seen, still make the utmost sense, I am reminded of those people who have gone before and of the rich contribution they have made to our vocabulary ... Amongst the strange and forgotten words there are some real beauties to be discovered. Some made me smile, others made me nod my head in sage agreement, whilst others made me realise just how beautiful is our language" -- jaffareadstoo.blogspot.co.uk
Sprache
Verlagsort
Maße
Höhe: 216 mm
Breite: 138 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-78396-358-4 (9781783963584)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Paul Anthony Jones is the author of several books on trivia and language, including The Accidental Dictionary, Word Drops, The British Isles: A Trivia Gazetteer, Haggard Hawks & Paltry Poltroons and its sequel, Jedburgh Justice & Kentish Fire. He appears regularly in the Telegraph online, BBC Radio 4's World at One, Buzzfeed, the Huffington Post and Mental Floss, and has contributed to the Guardian, Independent and Woman's Weekly, and Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries online. He also runs @HaggardHawks, the hugely popular language-based Twitter account and YouTube channel. He lives in Newcastle upon Tyne.
