Horrible Words
A Guide to the Misuse of English
Published on 30. March 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-0-14-197897-0 (ISBN)
Description
'Stuffed with entertaining detail ... Horrible Words is lively, provocative, witty and enlightening' The Times
Nothing inflames the language purists like an illogical irregardless or a hideous otherization. But is it enough simply to dismiss these words as vile and barbarous howlers? Taking a genial tour far and wide through our linguistic badlands, Rebecca Gowers finds answers that are helpful, surprising and often extremely funny.
'Exuberant, erudite, informative and fun ... a call on all English-speakers to trust their own feel for their language, to relish their verbal inventiveness and to do battle against the pedants who tell them they are wrong' Michael Skapinker, Financial Times
'A very useful book, packed with good historical sense' Lynne Truss, The Times
Nothing inflames the language purists like an illogical irregardless or a hideous otherization. But is it enough simply to dismiss these words as vile and barbarous howlers? Taking a genial tour far and wide through our linguistic badlands, Rebecca Gowers finds answers that are helpful, surprising and often extremely funny.
'Exuberant, erudite, informative and fun ... a call on all English-speakers to trust their own feel for their language, to relish their verbal inventiveness and to do battle against the pedants who tell them they are wrong' Michael Skapinker, Financial Times
'A very useful book, packed with good historical sense' Lynne Truss, The Times
Reviews / Votes
A great delight -- David Crystal Gowers is fierce, funny and staggeringly well informed -- Alan Connor * Mail on Sunday * Stuffed with entertaining detail ... Horrible Words is lively, provocative, witty and enlightening * The Times * Exuberant and stimulating ... erudite, informative and fun * Financial Times * Witty ... wry ... As a heretic, Gowers cuts a formidable figure * The Times Literary Supplement * A very useful book, packed with good historical sense -- Lynne Truss * The Times * A joy - informative and irreverent -- Caroline Taggart Witty and erudite ... A splendid antidote to small-minded pedantry -- Robbie Millen * The Times * Will have you enraptured by etymology ... Hugely enjoyable * Reader's Digest *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
168 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-14-197897-0 (9780141978970)
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 Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2016
1st Edition
Penguin Books Ltd
€8.49
Available for download
Person
Rebecca Gowers is the author of The Swamp of Death, shortlisted for the CWA non-fiction Golden Dagger Award, and of two novels, When to Walk and The Twisted Heart, both longlisted for the Orange Prize. She is also the most recent editor of Plain Words, the classic guide to the use of English by her great-grandfather Sir Ernest Gowers.