Word Drops

Name: Word Drops
ISBN: 9780826356574

A Sprinkling of Linguistic Curiosities

Paul Anthony Jones,

168 pages
English
ePUB (mobile friendly)
Available on iOS & Android

eBook - ePub

Available until 23 Dec |Learn more

Word Drops

A Sprinkling of Linguistic Curiosities

Paul Anthony Jones,

About this book

From aardvark to zenzizenzizenzic, Word Drops collects a thousand obscure words and language facts in one fascinating chain of word associations. Did you know, for example, that scandal derives from the Latin for "stumbling block" and originally described a trap for a wild animal? In nineteenth-century slang a wolf trap was a corrupt casino. Casino means "little house" in Italian. Roulette means "little wheel" in French. A wheeler is someone who attends auctions to bid on items merely to increase their sale price. Such links take readers on an unexpected journey through linguistic oddities. Inspired by the popular @HaggardHawks Twitter account, Word Drops also uses an intriguing series of annotations to add background and historical context on everything from Anglo-Saxon cures for insanity to Samuel Pepys's cure for a hangover. This unique book will delight anyone who loves language, etymology, and word games.

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Yes, you can access Word Drops by Paul Anthony Jones in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Personal Development & Writing & Presentation Skills. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.