Words Words Words
by David Crystal
from Oxford University Press, USA
"Lexicography is not just an exercise in linguistic accounting," writes preeminent English language scholar David Crystal in this exceptionally lively and erudite little book. "It is a voyage of lexical exploration and discovery."
In Words, Words, Words, Crystal takes readers on a fascinating linguistic adventure, exploring the English language in all its oddity, complexity, and ever-changing beauty. Traveling from word origins and word evolution to wordgangs, wordrisks, wordplay, wordgames and beyond, Crystal shares his immense knowledge of, and equally immense delight in, language. He celebrates new words, old words, words that "snarl" and words that "purr," elegant words and taboo words, plain English words and convoluted gobbledegook, eponyms and antonyms, spoonerisms and malapropisms, and a host of other written and spoken forms and variations.
Words, Words, Words offers invaluable insight on such subjects as how to estimate the size of your vocabulary the functions of jargon when cliches are necessary the value of slang words ("the chief use of slang/is to show you're one of the gang") how to create your own "semantic field" dialect humor how to become a word detective how to keep a record of your child's words and much more!
With illuminating sidebars featuring everything from common word origins and sample definitions from the dictionaries of Samuel Johnson and Ambrose Bierce to a passage from Finnegan's Wake and the winning entries of The Guardian Text Message Poetry Competition, Words, Words, Words will both satisfy and spark the curiosity of anyone who has ever been intrigued, befuddled, or awed by words and myriad ways we use them.
A Guide to the Oxford English Dictionary
by Donna Lee Berg
from Oxford University Press, USA
In a recent review of the Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM, Library Journal called the accompanying booklet, a brief guide to the OED, a "work of art." Now, this work of art has been expanded and enhanced to a full-length book, A Guide to the Oxford English Dictionary. Here Donna Lee Berg has provided a fascinating source of general information about the OED as well as a detailed account of the conventions and organization of the dictionary text, specially designed to enhance the reader's enjoyment and understanding of this incomparable work. This lively volume is the first to provide an in-depth account of the structure of the OED: it gives an analysis of the components of a typical entry, and covers special entries, such as acronyms, abbreviations, and proper names. In addition, a fascinating A-Z companion section covers grammatical terms, languages, the history of the Dictionary, the individuals who have shaped it, and a host of other topics. Also included are a bibliography, a chronology of the OED, and a listing of key facts and figures about the Dictionary. The Guide will be an invaluable handbook for everyone who relies on the OED, a roadmap to the greatest dictionary ever compiled.
The Right Word!: How to Say What You Really Mean (Right! Series)
by Jan Venolia
from Ten Speed Press
Every writer needs help with words: choosing them, using them, spelling them correctly. WhatÂ’s the difference between chronic and acute? When is optimal or optimum the better choice? Why use germane when relevant is, well, more relevant? Created for just such tortuous (torturous?) situations, this handy guide, the latest in the Right! series by noted writing authority Jan Venolia, provides an A-to-Z listing of troublesome, confusing words, accompanied by clear examples and explanations to help avoid common mistakes. With a discussion on getting the most out of words, a helpful resource section, humorous illustrations, and clever bits of wordplay, this compact reference is the perfect addition to the writerÂ’s shelf.
Idioms in American Life
by Julie Howard
from Prentice Hall
The Cunning Linguist: Ribald Riddles, Lascivious Limericks, Carnal Corn, and Other Good, Clean Dirty Fun
by Richard Lederer
from St. Martin's Griffin
In The Cunning Linguist, renowned language expert Richard Lederer shows us the naughtier side of wordplay, revealing hundreds of hilarious, ingenious, unabashed, and adults-only puns, jokes, limericks, one-liners, and other adventures in sexual humor. This book of "good, clean dirty fun" will delight word hounds, punsters, bachelor-party goers, and anyone who likes a clever grown-up joke.
Here's a taste of The Cunning Linguist:
Q: What does a man have in his pants that you can also find on a pool table?
A: Pockets.
Have you heard about the incompatible couple?
He had no income, and she wasn't pattable.
The four stages of a couple's sex life:
Under 35: Tri-weekly
35-45: Try weekly
45-55: Try weakly
55 and over: Try, try, try.
For much more, sneak between the covers of this unique and laugh-out-loud book.
The Logophile's Orgy
A collection of favorite words and phrases by prominent writers and celebrities offers the most commonly used or preferred expressions of such figures as James Clavell, Margaret Atwood, Larry King, Gloria Steinem, and Joan Rivers.
1100 Words You Need to Know
by Murray Bromberg
from Barrons Educational Series Inc
Aimed at college-bound students who need extra vocabulary help, this 20-minute-a-day program guides users towards a mastery of 920 new words and 200 useful idioms. All new in this edition are 46 words-in-context exercises that reflect the SAT change in emphasis regarding vocabulary questions.
Computational Morphology: Practical Mechanisms for the English Lexicon (ACL-MIT Series in Natural Language Processing)
by Graeme D. Ritchie
from The MIT Press
Previous work on morphology has largely tended either to avoid precise computational details or to ignore linguistic generality. Computational Morphology is the first book to present an integrated set of techniques for the rigorous description of morphological phenomena in English and similar languages. By taking account of all facets of morphological analysis, it provides a linguistically general and computationally practical dictionary system for use within an English parsing program.
The authors cover morphographemics (variations in spelling as words are built from their component morphemes), morphotactics (the ways that different classes of morphemes can combine, and the types of words that result), and lexical redundancy (patterns of similarity and regularity among the lexical entries for words). They propose a precise rule-notation for each of these areas of linguistic description and present the algorithms for using these rules computationally to manipulate dictionary information. These mechanisms have been implemented in practical and publicly available software, which is described in detail, and appendixes contain a large number of computer-tested sets of rules and lexical entries for English.
Graeme D. Ritchie is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh, where Alan W. Black is currently a research student. Graham J. Russell is a Research Fellow at ISSCO (Institut Dalle Molle pour les études sémantiques et cognitives) in Geneva, and Stephen G. Pulman is a Lecturer in the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and Director of SRI International's Cambridge Computer Science Research Centre.
A Word or Two Before You Go . . . .
English Through the Ages
by William Brohaugh
from Writer's Digest Books
"Laptop," "quality time," "politically correct," "wannabe," and "spin doctor"--these terms are all such mainstays of our modern-day vernacular that it's hard to believe they are only about 15 years old. It seems equally unlikely that, even in the year 1150, a person could live life in the "fast lane," eschewing his own "flesh and blood" and "sleeping with a comely whore" at his "summerhouse." Such a "witless turd" could even "tap" an "ice-cold keg," after which he might just "spew" his "guts" out. This hefty volume is sure entertainment for anyone interested in knowing that the word "smooch" is about 350 years older than the word "oink," that in the 1600s a "prick" was a nice guy, and that women were getting "knocked up" by the year 1665 (a good 30 years, for what it's worth, after the first recording of the phrase "women's rights"). --Jane Steinberg
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