Word NerdUnpublished

Share

Print

This rollercoaster ride through the colorful history of slang--from highwaymen to hip-hop--is a fresh and exciting take on the subject: entertaining and authoritative without being patronizing, out-of-touch or voyeuristic. Slang is the language of pop culture, low culture, street...

Do you have strong feelings about the word "irregardless"? Have you ever tried to define the word "is"? Brimming with intelligence and personality, this vastly entertaining account of how dictionaries are made is a must-read for word mavens. Many of us take dictionaries...

Beginning his career on a lark as a freelance contributor to SCRABBLE News, John D. Williams fell down a rabbit hole inhabited by gamers, geeks, and the grammar police. For twenty-five years, as the executive director of the National SCRABBLE Association, Williams served as the official...

"A provocative and jaunty romp through the dos and don'ts of writing for the internet" (NYT)--the practical, the playful, and the politically correct--from BuzzFeed copy chief Emmy Favilla. A World Without "Whom" is Eats, Shoots & Leaves for the internet...

From master language creator David J. Peterson, creator of Game of Thrones' (HBO) Dothraki language, comes a creative guide to language construction. Peterson begins with a brief history of constructed languages, from Tolkien's creations to Klingon to the thriving global community of language...

"A delightful treasure house, literally a thesaurus, of linguistic marvels." --from the foreword by bestselling author Simon Winchester A colorfully illustrated collection of more than ninety untranslatable words and phrases and the unique insights they offer into...

With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing,...

The Horologicon - which means 'a book of things appropriate to each hour' - follows a day in the life of unusual, beautiful and forgotten English words.

Puns are often derided as the lowest form of wit and groaned at as the main staple of 'dad' jokes the world over. But puns do matter. John Pollack, former World Pun Champion and presidential speechwriter for Bill Clinton explains how puns have revolutionised language and played a pivotal role in...

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...

Swearing is a fascinating thing. Almost everyone does it, or worries about not doing it, from the two year old who has just discovered the power of the potty mouth to the grandma who wonders why every other word she hears is obscene. But more than its cultural ubiquity, swearing is also interesting...

How did die become kick the bucket, underwear become unmentionables, and having an affair become hiking the Appalachian trail? Originally used to avoid blasphemy, honor taboos, and make nice, euphemisms have become embedded in the fabric of our language. Euphemania traces the origins of...