The Etymologicon

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The Etymologicon

Mark Forsyth
The Etymologicon Book PDF

Author : Mark Forsyth
Publisher : Icon Books Ltd
Page : 295 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2011-11-03
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781848313194

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The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth Pdf

'Witty and erudite ... stuffed with the kind of arcane information that nobody strictly needs to know, but which is a pleasure to learn nonetheless.' Nick Duerden, Independent. 'Particularly good ... Forsyth takes words and draws us into their, and our, murky history.' William Leith, Evening Standard. The Etymologicon is an occasionally ribald, frequently witty and unerringly erudite guided tour of the secret labyrinth that lurks beneath the English language. What is the actual connection between disgruntled and gruntled? What links church organs to organised crime, California to the Caliphate, or brackets to codpieces? Mark Forsyth's riotous celebration of the idiosyncratic and sometimes absurd connections between words is a classic of its kind: a mine of fascinating information and a must-read for word-lovers everywhere. 'Highly recommended' Spectator.

The Etymologicon

Mark Forsyth
The Etymologicon Book PDF

Author : Mark Forsyth
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2012-10-02
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781101611760

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The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth Pdf

This perfect gift for readers, writers, and literature majors alike unearths the quirks of the English language. For example, do you know why a mortgage is literally a “death pledge”? Why guns have girls’ names? Why “salt” is related to “soldier”? Discover the answers to all of these etymological questions and more in this fascinating book for fans of of Eats, Shoots & Leaves. The Etymologicon is a completely unauthorized guide to the strange underpinnings of the English language. It explains how you get from “gruntled” to “disgruntled”; why you are absolutely right to believe that your meager salary barely covers “money for salt”; how the biggest chain of coffee shops in the world connects to whaling in Nantucket; and what, precisely, the Rolling Stones have to do with gardening. This witty book will awake the linguist in you and illuminate the hidden meanings behind common words and phrases, tracing their evolution through all of their surprising paths throughout history.

The Horologicon

Mark Forsyth
The Horologicon Book PDF

Author : Mark Forsyth
Publisher : Icon Books
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2012-11-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 1848314302

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The Horologicon by Mark Forsyth Pdf

The Horologicon (or book of hours) gives you the most extraordinary words in the English language, arranged according to the hour of the day when you really need them. Do you wake up feeling rough? Then you’re philogrobolized. Pretending to work? That’s fudgelling, which may lead to rizzling if you feel sleepy after lunch, though by dinner time you will have become a sparkling deipnosophist. From Mark Forsyth, author of the bestselling The Etymologicon, this is a book of weird words for familiar situations. From ante-jentacular to snudge by way of quafftide and wamblecropt, at last you can say, with utter accuracy, exactly what you mean.

The Elements of Eloquence

Mark Forsyth
The Elements of Eloquence Book PDF

Author : Mark Forsyth
Publisher : Icon Books Ltd
Page : 182 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2013-11-07
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781848316225

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The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsyth Pdf

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER THE ETYMOLOGICON. 'An informative but highly entertaining journey through the figures of rhetoric ... Mark Forsyth wears his considerable knowledge lightly. He also writes beautifully.' David Marsh, Guardian. Mark Forsyth presents the secret of writing unforgettable phrases, uncovering the techniques that have made immortal such lines as 'To be or not to be' and 'Bond. James Bond.' In his inimitably entertaining and witty style, he takes apart famous quotations and shows how you too can write like Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde or John Lennon. Crammed with tricks to make the most humdrum sentiments seem poetic or wise, The Elements of Eloquence reveals how writers through the ages have turned humble words into literary gold - and how you can do the same.

The Unknown Unknown

Mark Forsyth
The Unknown Unknown Book PDF

Author : Mark Forsyth
Publisher : Icon Books Ltd
Page : 42 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2014-09-04
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781848317932

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The Unknown Unknown by Mark Forsyth Pdf

Mark Forsyth - author of the Sunday Times Number One bestseller The Etymologicon - reveals in this essay, specially commissioned for Independent Booksellers Week, the most valuable thing about a really good bookshop. Along the way he considers the wisdom of Donald Rumsfeld, naughty French photographs, why Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy would never have met online, and why only a bookshop can give you that precious thing - what you never knew you were looking for.

The Etymologicon and the Horologicon

Mark Forsyth
The Etymologicon and the Horologicon Book PDF

Author : Mark Forsyth
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 544 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2013-11-07
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1848317115

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The Etymologicon and the Horologicon by Mark Forsyth Pdf

What is the actual connection between disgruntled and gruntled? What links church organs to organised crime, California to the Caliphate, or brackets to codpieces?The Etymologicon springs from Mark Forsyth's Inky Fool blog on the strange connections between words. It's an occasionally ribald, frequently witty and unerringly erudite guided tour of the secret labyrinth that lurks beneath the English language, taking in monks and monkeys, film buffs and buffaloes, and explaining precisely what the Rolling Stones have to do with gardening.The Horologicon (or book of hours) gives you the most extraordinary words in the English language, arranged according to the hour of the day when you really need them. Do you wake up feeling rough? Then you’re philogrobolized. Pretending to work? That’s fudgelling, which may lead to rizzling if you feel sleepy after lunch, though by dinner time you will have become a sparkling deipnosophist. From Mark Forsyth, author of the bestselling The Etymologicon, this is a book of weird words for familiar situations. From ante-jentacular to snudge by way of quafftide and wamblecropt, at last you can say, with utter accuracy, exactly what you mean.

Word Myths

David Wilton
Word Myths Book PDF

Author : David Wilton
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2008-11-06
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780199740833

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Word Myths by David Wilton Pdf

Do you "know" that posh comes from an acronym meaning "port out, starboard home"? That "the whole nine yards" comes from (pick one) the length of a WWII gunner's belt; the amount of fabric needed to make a kilt; a sarcastic football expression? That Chicago is called "The Windy City" because of the bloviating habits of its politicians, and not the breeze off the lake? If so, you need this book. David Wilton debunks the most persistently wrong word histories, and gives, to the best of our actual knowledge, the real stories behind these perennially mis-etymologized words. In addition, he explains why these wrong stories are created, disseminated, and persist, even after being corrected time and time again. What makes us cling to these stories, when the truth behind these words and phrases is available, for the most part, at any library or on the Internet? Arranged by chapters, this book avoids a dry A-Z format. Chapters separate misetymologies by kind, including The Perils of Political Correctness (picnics have nothing to do with lynchings), Posh, Phat Pommies (the problems of bacronyming--the desire to make every word into an acronym), and CANOE (which stands for the Conspiracy to Attribute Nautical Origins to Everything). Word Myths corrects long-held and far-flung examples of wrong etymologies, without taking the fun out of etymology itself. It's the best of both worlds: not only do you learn the many wrong stories behind these words, you also learn why and how they are created--and what the real story is.

A Short History of Drunkenness

Mark Forsyth
A Short History of Drunkenness Book PDF

Author : Mark Forsyth
Publisher : Crown
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2018-05-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9780525575382

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A Short History of Drunkenness by Mark Forsyth Pdf

From the internationally bestselling author of The Etymologicon, a lively and fascinating exploration of how, throughout history, each civilization has found a way to celebrate, or to control, the eternal human drive to get sloshed “An entertaining bar hop though the past 10,000 years.”—The New York Times Book Review Almost every culture on earth has drink, and where there’s drink there’s drunkenness. But in every age and in every place drunkenness is a little bit different. It can be religious, it can be sexual, it can be the duty of kings or the relief of peasants. It can be an offering to the ancestors, or a way of marking the end of a day’s work. It can send you to sleep, or send you into battle. Making stops all over the world, A Short History of Drunkenness traces humankind’s love affair with booze from our primate ancestors through to the twentieth century, answering every possible question along the way: What did people drink? How much? Who did the drinking? Of the many possible reasons, why? On the way, learn about the Neolithic Shamans, who drank to communicate with the spirit world (no pun intended), marvel at how Greeks got giddy and Sumerians got sauced, and find out how bars in the Wild West were never quite like in the movies. This is a history of the world at its inebriated best.

Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue

John McWhorter
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue Book PDF

Author : John McWhorter
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2009-10-27
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781592404940

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Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue by John McWhorter Pdf

A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar Why do we say “I am reading a catalog” instead of “I read a catalog”? Why do we say “do” at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Language distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history. Covering such turning points as the little-known Celtic and Welsh influences on English, the impact of the Viking raids and the Norman Conquest, and the Germanic invasions that started it all during the fifth century ad, John McWhorter narrates this colorful evolution with vigor. Drawing on revolutionary genetic and linguistic research as well as a cache of remarkable trivia about the origins of English words and syntax patterns, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue ultimately demonstrates the arbitrary, maddening nature of English— and its ironic simplicity due to its role as a streamlined lingua franca during the early formation of Britain. This is the book that language aficionados worldwide have been waiting for (and no, it’s not a sin to end a sentence with a preposition).

Numericon: The Hidden Lives of Numbers

Mariannee Freiberger,Rachel Thomas
Numericon The Hidden Lives of Numbers Book PDF

Author : Mariannee Freiberger,Rachel Thomas
Publisher : Quercus
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2016-03-08
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 1623659485

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Numericon: The Hidden Lives of Numbers by Mariannee Freiberger,Rachel Thomas Pdf

Numericon tells the stories of the numbers, mathematical discoveries, oddities and personalities that have shaped the way we understand the world around us. Each chapter is its own story about a number: why 12 is a sublime number, why 13 is unlucky and 7 lucky, and how imaginary numbers hold up buildings. The book tells the stories of ancient mathematicians, ground-breaking discoveries and mathematical applications that affect our world and our lives in so many ways.

Beyond the Known

Andrew Rader
Beyond the Known Book PDF

Author : Andrew Rader
Publisher : Scribner
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2020-11-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9781982123550

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Beyond the Known by Andrew Rader Pdf

From brilliant young polymath Andrew Rader—an MIT-credentialed scientist, popular podcast host, and SpaceX mission manager—an “engaging” (Tim Marshall, New York Times bestselling author) chronicle showcasing our human desire to continually explore new and uncharted territory, from civilization’s earliest days to interstellar travel. For the first time in history, the human species has the technology to destroy itself. But having developed that power, humans are also able to leave Earth and voyage into the vastness of space. After millions of years of evolution, we’ve arrived at the point where we can settle other worlds and begin the process of becoming multi-planetary. How did we get here? What does the future hold for us? Divided into four accessible sections, Beyond the Known examines major periods of discovery and rediscovery, from Classical Times, when Phoenicians, Persians, and Greeks ventured forth; to The Age of European Exploration, which saw colonies sprout on nearly every continent; to The Era of Scientific Inquiry, when researchers developed new tools for mapping and traveling farther; to Our Spacefaring Future, which unveils plans currently underway for settling other planets and, eventually, traveling to the stars. A Mission Manager at SpaceX with a lively voice, Andrew Rader is at the forefront of space exploration. As a gifted historian, Rader, who has won global acclaim for his stunning breadth of knowledge, is singularly positioned to reveal the story of human exploration that is also the story of scientific achievement. Told with an infectious zeal for traveling seeking new horizons, Beyond the Known is “an astute—and highly flattering—view of human aspirations” (Kirkus Reviews).

Toujours Tingo

Adam Jacot de Boinod
Toujours Tingo Book PDF

Author : Adam Jacot de Boinod
Publisher : Penguin UK
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2007-11-01
Category : Humor
ISBN : 9780141919195

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Toujours Tingo by Adam Jacot de Boinod Pdf

Why would Germans accuse you of being like the donkey getting cross with a rabbit? Who would a Spaniard tell to go and fry asparagus? And when might the French claim they are without a radish? Furthering your knowledge of the world’s unusual idioms, Toujours Tingo will also explain how ordering ‘lamb’ in Ethiopia may see a cow delivered to your table, and how politicians in Sweden may be encouraged occasionally to göra en hel Pudel (‘do a full poodle’) with some humble apologising. Covering such wide-ranging linguistic necessities as arguing, raising children, working and dining out, and filling all those gaps that English leaves thoughtlessly unplugged, this book’s charm would – for Russians at least – be ežiku ponjatno (obvious even to a hedgehog).

Dictionary of Word Origins

John Ayto
Dictionary of Word Origins Book PDF

Author : John Ayto
Publisher : Arcade
Page : 592 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2011-04-01
Category : Reference
ISBN : 1611450535

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Dictionary of Word Origins by John Ayto Pdf

Uncover the hidden and often surprising connection between words. Written in a clear and informative style, the more than 8,000 articles reveal the origins of and links between some of the most common English-language words. What is the link between map and apron, acrobat and oxygen, zeal and jealousy, flour and pollen, secret and crime? Did you know that crimson originally comes from the name of tiny scale insects, the kermes, from whose dried bodies a red dyestuff is made? That Yankee began as a nickname for Dutchmen? That omelette evolved from amulette, “a thin sheet of metal,” and is a not-too-distant cousin of the word laminate? That jeans find their antecedent in jean fustian, meaning “a cotton fabric from Genoa”? They also contain an extensive selection of words whose life histories are intrinsically fascinating or instructive. This dictionary shows how modern English has developed from its Indo-European roots and how the various influences on the language—from migration and invasion to exploration, trade, technology, and scholarship—have intermingled. It is an invaluable addition to any English or linguistics library.

The Sherlock Holmes Book

DK
The Sherlock Holmes Book Book PDF

Author : DK
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 891 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2015-10-20
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781465449979

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The Sherlock Holmes Book by DK Pdf

The Sherlock Holmes Book, the latest in DK's award-winning Big Ideas Simply Explained series, tackles the most "elementary" of subjects--the world of Sherlock Holmes, as told by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Sherlock Holmes Book is packed with witty illustrations, clear graphics, and memorable quotes that make it the perfect Sherlock Holmes guide, covering every case of the world's greatest detective, from A Study in Scarlet to The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place, placing the sorties in a wider context. Stories include at-a-glance flowcharts that show how Holmes reaches his conclusions through deductive reasoning, and character guides provide handy reference for readers and an invaluable resource for fans of the Sherlock Holmes films and TV series. The Sherlock Holmes Book holds a magnifying glass to the world of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective.

A Christmas Cornucopia

Mark Forsyth
A Christmas Cornucopia Book PDF

Author : Mark Forsyth
Publisher : Penguin UK
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2016-11-03
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780241977552

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A Christmas Cornucopia by Mark Forsyth Pdf

The unpredictable origins and etymologies of our cracking Christmas customs For something that happens every year of our lives, we really don't know much about Christmas. We don't know that the date we celebrate was chosen by a madman, or that Christmas, etymologically speaking, means "Go away, Christ". Nor do we know that Christmas was first celebrated in 243 AD on March 28th - and only moved to 25th December in 354 AD. We're oblivious to the fact that the advent calendar was actually invented by a Munich housewife to stop her children pestering her for a Christmas countdown. And we would never have guessed that the invention of crackers was merely a way of popularising sweet wrappers. Luckily, like a gift from Santa himself, Mark Forsyth is here to unwrap this fundamentally funny gallimaufry of traditions and oddities, making it all finally make sense - in his wonderfully entertaining wordy way.