| Title : | What in the word? : wordplay, word lore, and answers to the peskiest questions about language | | Material Type: | printed text | | Authors: | Charles Harrington Elster, Author | | Publisher: | Orlando : Harcourt | | Publication Date: | 2005 | | Pagination: | xvi, 286 p. | | Size: | 21 cm | | ISBN (or other code): | 978-0-15-603197-4 | | General note: | Includes bibliographical references (p. [269]-273)
Includes index (p. [275]-286) | | Languages : | English (eng) Original Language : English (eng) | | Descriptors: | Americanisms
English language
English language - Style
English language - Usage
Etymology
| | Class number: | 422 | | Abstract: | Are you so sure about "assure," "ensure," and "insure" ? Can you determine whether a knob of butter is equivalent to a lump or a pat or a s cosh? Can you say which word in the English language has the most definitions, or who put the H in Jesus H. Christ?If you can't, be assured that Charles Harrington Elster, author of several well-loved works on language, can-and does in his latest book, a delightfully designed compendium of the most common, interesting, and entertaining conundrums in our language. Drawing upon esoteric sources and his own inimitable expertise, Elster uses a lively question and answer format to cover a variety of topics word and phrase origins, slang, style, usage, punctuation, and pronunciation. Every chapter features original brainteasers, challenging puzzles, and a trove of literary trivia. | | Contents note: | Once upon a word : word histories, mysteries, hoaxes, and hype : sorting the tall tales from the truth; A slough of solecisms : wherein the author leads you safely out of a morass of mistakes and misconceptions into the clear, comforting light of correct English; The grandiloquent gumshoe : words recovered, discovered, and devised; The elegance of style : distinctions, clarifications, niceties, and other little things that make your language more polished and precise; A civil tongue : wherein the author launders your pronunciation and presses you to speak with propriety and poise; Born in the U.S.A. : some quintessentially American words and expressions, from okay to humongous, with some other American stuff thrown in just for fun; The wonder of words : a fascinating farrago of word lore and wordplay that just didn't fit anywhere else. | | Record link: | https://library.seeu.edu.mk/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=16167 |
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