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 clichés 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.
