Words Words Words
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Words, Words, Words is all about the wonder of words.
Drawing on a lifetime's experience, David Crystal explores language in all its rich varieties through words: the very building blocks of our communication. Language has no life of its own: it only exists in the mouths and ears, hands, eyes and brains of its users. As we are guided expertly and passionately through the mysteries and delights of word origins, histories, spellings, regional and social variations, taboo words, jargon, and wordplay, the contribution we all play in shaping the linguistic world around us becomes evident.
Words, Words, Words is a celebration of what we say and how we say it. It invites us to engage linguistically with who we are: to understand what words tell us about where we come from and what we do. And as they continually shape our lives, it suggests ways that we can look at words anew and get involved with collecting and coining words ourselves.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The latest contribution from prolific linguist Crystal (The Stories of English) offers a cornucopia of interesting takes on "the universe of words." Crystal briefly visits many aspects of language: baby names, place names, how languages change, how to estimate the size of your vocabulary and the interaction between languages. He also touches on the history of words and how language changes with interesting, straightforward explanations that belie the author's enormous knowledge of lexicology, but represent well his intense, personal love for it: "Everyone has their own linguistic story to tell ... this book is part of my story, a cross-section of my lexical autobiography." Witty literary references are sprinkled throughout the book, along with some surprisingly vulgar sections; even the table of contents and the index are fascinating linguistic exercises. Conversational but easy to reference, this text will be useful to any semi-serious practitioner of the English language.
