Read Strange to Say: Etymology as Serious Entertainment

Strange to Say: Etymology as Serious Entertainment

Deborah Warren

4.9/5 (29664 ratings)

Description:"[Warren's] curiosity and embrace of the unpredictable, as well as her delight in both the archaic and the homespun, animate Strange to Say, a tour of English that savors the language's mutability."―Wall Street Journal"A great read for those who appreciate seeing the whimsy in words, as Warren remarkably achieves etymological entertainment."―Booklist“You can’t stop language, because when all’s said and done is never.”In her witty account of the origins of many English words and expressions, Deborah Warren educates as she entertains―and entertain she does, leading her readers through the amazing labyrinthian history of related words. “Language,” she writes, “is all about mutation.”Read here about the first meanings of common words and phrases, including dessert, vodka, lunatic, tulip, dollar, bikini, peeping tom, peter out, and devil’s advocate. A former Latin teacher, Warren is a gifted poet and a writer of great playfulness. Strange to Say is a cornucopia of joyful learning and laughter.Did you know…Lord Cardigan was a British aristocrat and military man known for the sweater jackets he sported.A lying lawyer might pull the wool over a judge’s eyes—yank his wig down across his face.In the original tale of Cinderella, her slippers were made of vair (“fur”)—which in the orally-told story mistakenly turned into the homonym verre (“glass”).Like laundry, lavender evolved from Italian lavanderia, “things to be washed.” The plant was used as a clothes freshener. It smells better than, say, the misspelled Downy Unstopable with the ad that touts its “feisty freshness,” unaware that feisty evolved from Middle English fisten—fart.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Strange to Say: Etymology as Serious Entertainment. To get started finding Strange to Say: Etymology as Serious Entertainment, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Pages: 194

Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

Publisher: Paul Dry Books

Release: —

ISBN: 1589881575

Description: "[Warren's] curiosity and embrace of the unpredictable, as well as her delight in both the archaic and the homespun, animate Strange to Say, a tour of English that savors the language's mutability."―Wall Street Journal"A great read for those who appreciate seeing the whimsy in words, as Warren remarkably achieves etymological entertainment."―Booklist“You can’t stop language, because when all’s said and done is never.”In her witty account of the origins of many English words and expressions, Deborah Warren educates as she entertains―and entertain she does, leading her readers through the amazing labyrinthian history of related words. “Language,” she writes, “is all about mutation.”Read here about the first meanings of common words and phrases, including dessert, vodka, lunatic, tulip, dollar, bikini, peeping tom, peter out, and devil’s advocate. A former Latin teacher, Warren is a gifted poet and a writer of great playfulness. Strange to Say is a cornucopia of joyful learning and laughter.Did you know…Lord Cardigan was a British aristocrat and military man known for the sweater jackets he sported.A lying lawyer might pull the wool over a judge’s eyes—yank his wig down across his face.In the original tale of Cinderella, her slippers were made of vair (“fur”)—which in the orally-told story mistakenly turned into the homonym verre (“glass”).Like laundry, lavender evolved from Italian lavanderia, “things to be washed.” The plant was used as a clothes freshener. It smells better than, say, the misspelled Downy Unstopable with the ad that touts its “feisty freshness,” unaware that feisty evolved from Middle English fisten—fart.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Strange to Say: Etymology as Serious Entertainment. To get started finding Strange to Say: Etymology as Serious Entertainment, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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Strange to Say: Etymology as Serious Entertainment

Strange to Say: Etymology as Serious Entertainment

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