The Secret Life of the English Language
Buttering Parsnips and Twocking Chavs
Published on 4. September 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-0-7538-2417-7 (ISBN)
Description
A more-ishly browsable collection of words and phrases, linguistic quirks, lexical oddities and syntactic surprises.
Our langauge is one of delight and curiosity. BUTTERING PARSNIPS, TWOCKING CHAVS is a guided tour of English, exploring the origins of words, their changing meaning, lexical peculiarities, word games and lost words, presented in lists, small passages of narrative text, amusing quotations and nuggets of amazing facts.
This must-have compendium shows that words have a matchless power to entertain. Here you will find enough new words and phrases to last a lifetime. Idioms frolic beside cliches, catchphrases, proverbs, eponyms, acronyms, spoonerisms and split infinitives. Text messages cavort alongside business jargon and rap slang to produce a language that is both witty and bizarre, and sometimes frankly outstanding.
So whether you're a yuppie or a woopie, a sinbad or dinky, a spod or even a wazzock, these pages will provide endless hours of delight and fascination.
Our langauge is one of delight and curiosity. BUTTERING PARSNIPS, TWOCKING CHAVS is a guided tour of English, exploring the origins of words, their changing meaning, lexical peculiarities, word games and lost words, presented in lists, small passages of narrative text, amusing quotations and nuggets of amazing facts.
This must-have compendium shows that words have a matchless power to entertain. Here you will find enough new words and phrases to last a lifetime. Idioms frolic beside cliches, catchphrases, proverbs, eponyms, acronyms, spoonerisms and split infinitives. Text messages cavort alongside business jargon and rap slang to produce a language that is both witty and bizarre, and sometimes frankly outstanding.
So whether you're a yuppie or a woopie, a sinbad or dinky, a spod or even a wazzock, these pages will provide endless hours of delight and fascination.
Reviews / Votes
[a] tasty gallimaufry of linguistic oddities * INDEPENDENT * an entertaining compendium showing, above all else, that words have a matchless power to entertain * HUDDERSFIELD DAILY EXAMINER *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 200 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
258 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7538-2417-7 (9780753824177)
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
Martin H. Manser | David Pickering
Buttering Parsnips, Twocking Chavs
The Secret Life Of The English Language
E-Book
09/2008
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
€3.99
Available for download
Persons
Martin H. Manser has been a professional reference book editor since 1980. He has compiled or edited more than 150 reference books, particularly English-language dictionaries, thesauruses, and Bible reference titles. He is also a language trainer and consultant with national companies and organizations. He and his wife live in Aylesbury and have a son and a daughter.