The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities PDF full book. Access full book title The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities by Paul Anthony Jones. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Paul Anthony Jones
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022664670X
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 385
Get Book Here
Book Description
Open The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities and you’ll find both a word and a day to remember, every day of the year. Each day has its own dedicated entry, on which a curious or notable event—and an equally curious or notable word—are explored. On the day on which flirting was banned in New York City, for instance, you’ll discover why to “sheep’s-eye” someone once meant to look at them amorously. On the day on which a disillusioned San Franciscan declared himself Emperor of the United States, you’ll find the word “mamamouchi,” a term for people who consider themselves more important than they truly are. And on the day on which George Frideric Handel completed his 259-page Messiah after twenty-four days of frenzied work, you’ll see why a French loanword, literally meaning “a small wooden barrow,” is used to refer to an intense period of work undertaken to meet a deadline. The English language is vast enough to supply us with a word for every occasion—and this linguistic “wunderkammer” is here to prove precisely that. So whatever date this book has found its way into your hands, there’s an entire year’s worth of linguistic curiosities waiting to be found.
Author: Paul Anthony Jones
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022664670X
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 385
Get Book Here
Book Description
Open The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities and you’ll find both a word and a day to remember, every day of the year. Each day has its own dedicated entry, on which a curious or notable event—and an equally curious or notable word—are explored. On the day on which flirting was banned in New York City, for instance, you’ll discover why to “sheep’s-eye” someone once meant to look at them amorously. On the day on which a disillusioned San Franciscan declared himself Emperor of the United States, you’ll find the word “mamamouchi,” a term for people who consider themselves more important than they truly are. And on the day on which George Frideric Handel completed his 259-page Messiah after twenty-four days of frenzied work, you’ll see why a French loanword, literally meaning “a small wooden barrow,” is used to refer to an intense period of work undertaken to meet a deadline. The English language is vast enough to supply us with a word for every occasion—and this linguistic “wunderkammer” is here to prove precisely that. So whatever date this book has found its way into your hands, there’s an entire year’s worth of linguistic curiosities waiting to be found.
Author: Paul Anthony Jones
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022664684X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 385
Get Book Here
Book Description
A day-by-day journey through 366 delightfully archaic words and quirky historical trivia. Open The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities and you’ll find both a word and a day to remember, every day of the year. Each day has its own dedicated entry, on which a curious or notable event—and an equally curious or notable word—are explored. On the day on which flirting was banned in New York City, for instance, you’ll discover why to “sheep’s-eye” someone once meant to look at them amorously. On the day on which a disillusioned San Franciscan declared himself Emperor of the United States, you’ll find the word “mamamouchi,” a term for people who consider themselves more important than they truly are. And on the day on which George Frideric Handel completed his 259-page Messiah after twenty-four days of frenzied work, you’ll see why a French loanword, literally meaning “a small wooden barrow,” is used to refer to an intense period of work undertaken to meet a deadline. The English language is vast enough to supply us with a word for every occasion—and this linguistic “wunderkammer” is here to prove precisely that. So whatever date this book has found its way into your hands, there’s an entire year’s worth of linguistic curiosities waiting to be found.
Author: Paul Anthony Jones
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
ISBN: 0826356567
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 216
Get Book Here
Book Description
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. Not for sale in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, or Canada
Author: Paul Anthony Jones
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781783964376
Category : Language and languages
Languages : en
Pages : 224
Get Book Here
Book Description
If you're logofascinated, you are literally spellbound by language. Word Drops is a language fact book unlike any other, its linguistic tidbits all falling together into one long interconnected chain just with each fact neatly 'dropping' into place beside the next. What's more, throughout, footnotes are used to give informative and intriguing background to some of the most bizarre facts, covering everything from traditional Inuit games to the origin of the Bellini cocktail, from the precise length of one 'jiffy' to what the Romans thought hoopoe birds ate, and from what to expect on a night out with Dr Johnson to Samuel Pepys's cure for a hangover. Want to know the longest palindrome in Morse code, or who The Great Masticator was? Curious to know what Norwegian steam is, or what a jäääär is? The answers are all here. For all of the logofascinated among us, this is an immensely pleasurable and unpredictable collection that is guaranteed to raise eyebrows (the literal meaning, incidentally, of supercilious). 'Brilliant for anyone interested in the effervescent oddness of English' --Stig Abell
Author: Paul Anthony Jones
Publisher: Elliott & Thompson
ISBN: 9781783964703
Category : Calmness
Languages : en
Pages : 224
Get Book Here
Book Description
From 'meliorism' to 'stound', 'carpe noctem' to 'opsimathy', these beguiling words will delight and inspire, soothing your soul and easing your mind.
Author: Paul Anthony Jones
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022668279X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286
Get Book Here
Book Description
What makes a place so memorable that it survives forever in a word? In this captivating round-the-world tour, Paul Anthony Jones acts as your guide through the intriguing stories of how eighty places became immortalized in the English language. You’ll discover why the origins of turkeys, limericks, Brazil nuts, and Panama hats aren’t quite as straightforward as you might presume. If you’ve never heard of the tiny Czech mining town of Jáchymov—or Joachimsthal, as it was known until the late 1800s—you’re not alone, which makes its claim to fame as the origin of the word “dollar” all the more extraordinary. The story of how the Great Dane isn’t all that Danish makes the list, as does the Jordanian mountain whose name has become a byword for a tantalizing glimpse. We’ll also find out what the Philippines has given to your office inbox, what Alaska has given to your liquor cabinet, and how a speech given by a bumbling North Carolinian gave us a word for impenetrable nonsense. Surprising, entertaining, and illuminating, this is essential reading for armchair travelers and word nerds. Our dictionaries are full of hidden histories, tales, and adventures from all over the world—if you know where to look.
Author: John McWhorter
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101644451
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Get Book Here
Book Description
New York Times bestselling author and renowned linguist, John McWhorter, explores the complicated and fascinating world of languages. From Standard English to Black English; obscure tongues only spoken by a few thousand people in the world to the big ones like Mandarin - What Language Is celebrates the history and curiosities of languages around the world and smashes our assumptions about "correct" grammar. An eye-opening tour for all language lovers, What Language Is offers a fascinating new perspective on the way humans communicate. From vanishing languages spoken by a few hundred people to major tongues like Chinese, with copious revelations about the hodgepodge nature of English, John McWhorter shows readers how to see and hear languages as a linguist does. Packed with Big Ideas about language alongside wonderful trivia, What Language Is explains how languages across the globe (the Queen's English and Surinam creoles alike) originate, evolve, multiply, and divide. Raising provocative questions about what qualifies as a language (so-called slang does have structured grammar), McWhorter also takes readers on a marvelous journey through time and place-from Persian to the languages of Sri Lanka- to deliver a feast of facts about the wonders of human linguistic expression.
Author: Paul Anthony Jones
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781783964383
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 224
Get Book Here
Book Description
Brimming with hidden histories and tantalising twists, The Accidental Dictionary tells the extraordinary stories behind ordinary words. Our everyday language is full of surprises; its origins are stranger than you might think. Any word might be knocked and buffeted, subjected to twists and turns, expansions and contractions, happy and unhappy accidents. There are intriguing tales behind even the most familiar terms, and they can say as much about the present as they do the past. Busking, for instance, originally meant piracy. Grin meant to snarl. A bimbo was a man, nice meant ignorant, glamour was magic and a cupboard was a table... Focusing on 100 surprising threads in the evolution of English, The Accidental Dictionary reveals the etymological origins and quirky developments that have led to the meanings we take for granted today. It is a weird and wonderful journey into words. "A real delight ... hidden gems nestle on every page" -- JaffaReadsToo "The Accidental Dictionary is certainly worth adding [to a bookshelf]... I knew very few of these, which is a good thing, and now I know more, which is a better one" -- Marcus Berkmann, Spectator Christmas books 2016
Author: Paul Anthony Jones
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0857658158
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Get Book Here
Book Description
From a Scottish waterfall three times the height of Niagara Falls to the last foreign invasion of Britain, The British Isles: A Trivia Gazetteer brings together hundreds of remarkable facts concerning different locations across Britain and Ireland. An As much an accessible and informative reference book as it is an entertaining miscellany.
Author: Paul Anthony Jones
Publisher: Elliott & Thompson
ISBN: 9781783967025
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Get Book Here
Book Description
Why don't eleven and twelve end in -teen? The rest of our counting system sits in neatly arithmetical sets of ten, so why do these two rulebreakers seem so at odds with the numbers that follow them? Admittedly, that question might never have occurred to you. But if you're even remotely interested in the origins and oddities of language, you're probably now intrigued to know the answer. Nor is it the only question: take a moment to think about how our language operates and even more spring to mind. Why do these letters look the way they do? Why are some uppercase and others lowercase? Why are these words in this order? How are you understanding what these seemingly arbitrary shapes and symbols mean? And what even is a question anyway? Delving into the origins of our alphabet and writing system; grammatical rules and conventions; the sound structure of language; and even how our brains and bodies interpret and communicate language itself, Why Is This a Question? is a fascinating and enlightening exploration of linguistic questions you've likely never thought to ask.
