It's All in a Word: History, meaning and the sheer joy of words

by Vivian Cook

Cross words, crass words, kind words, bad words, first words, rude words, new words, weazel words, teen words, rap words, power words, colour words, Indian words, Brit words, Blairwords, war words, ad words, p-c words, borrowed words, Shakespeare's amazing words, false words, fine words, wine words, American words, name words, last words, even lost for words - this book has them all.
Vivian Cook takes us on a series of excursions down the curious byways of word history and meaning, mingling the fare with games, lists, tests, and quotes. Discover the theojollylogical joys of infixation. Find out if you're a charva, what it means to be nithered, and how to hoy. Delve into the hidden nature of words. Consider how they're born, why they change, and how they die. Learn about the words that are never spoken and others that don't get written. Here's a book overflowing with words and about every kind and variety of word. It offers an irresistible cornucopia of information and entertainment.

336 pages, Paperback

First published December 9, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Vivian Cook is Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics at Newcastle University, UK. He is known for his work on second language acquisition, particularly for the concept of multi-competence, and has written technical textbooks and popular books on areas of linguistics ranging from intonation to first language acquisition to spelling.

Reviews

[Alex Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book to dip into, and gives tons of areas of interest for me to explore :)

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun facts and quizzes.