The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations


Book Description

The definitive pronouncement on more than 1,500 of our most commonly mispronounced words. From the language maven Charles Harrington Elster comes an authoritative and unapologetically opinionated look at American speech. As Elster points out, there is no sewer in connoisseur, no dip in diphthong, and no pronoun in pronunciation. The culmination of twenty years of observation and study, The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations is more than just a pronunciation guide. Elster discusses past and present usage, alternatives, analogies, and tendencies and offers plenty of advice, none of it objective. Whether you are adamant or ambivalent about the spoken word, Elster arms you with the information you need to decide what is acceptable for you. The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations has now been expanded and revised and features nearly 200 new words, including: al-Qaeda bruschetta commensurate coup de grace curriculum vita exacerbate gigabyte hara-kiri machismo Muslim Niger Pinochet Pulitzer sorbet tinnitus w (as in www-dot) and many, many more. Charles Harrington Elster is the pronunciation editor of Black's Law Dictionary and the author of various books about language, including Verbal Advantage, There's a Word for It, and What in the Word? He has been a guest columnist on language for the Boston Globe and the New York Times Magazine and a commentator on NPR and hundreds of radio shows around the country.




Dictionary of Lexicography


Book Description

Dictionaries are among the most frequently consulted books, yet we know remarkably little about them. Who makes them? Where do they come from? What do they offer? How can we evaluate them? The Dictionary of Lexicography provides answers to all these questions and addresses a wide range of issues: * the traditions of dictionary-making * the different types of dictionaries and other reference works (such as thesaurus, encyclopedia, atlas and telephone directory) * the principles and concerns of lexicographers and other reference professionals * the standards of dictionary criticism and dictionary use. It is both a professional handbook and an easy-to-use reference work. This is the first time that the subject has been covered in such a comprehensive manner in the form of a reference book. All articles are self-contained, cross-referenced and uniformly structured. The whole is an up-to-date and forward-looking survey of lexicography.




The Superior Person's Second Book of Weird and Wondrous Words


Book Description

The Superior Person's Book of Words (over 100,000 hardcover copies in print). In the words of the author, The format and the objectives are the same as before. I wish to equip the person in the street with new and better verbal weapons. Features 600 words. 15 line illustrations.




THE WORDS OF MEDICINE


Book Description

This book is a history of the medical vocabulary presented in topical (rather than dictionary) form. While most other books on medical words are arranged as dictionaries, rather than topically, and are much more selective in their presentation, this book entertains a comprehensive and historical approach to the subject. It is written primarily for physicians, biomedical scientists, and medical students, but should also appeal to anyone in the health professions or biological sciences with a 'feel' for medical history and the English language. It will also be useful to some teachers of English or linguistics. The idea of the book developed over at least a decade, and brings together for the author a lifelong interest in words, classical and modern languages, and the history of medicine. The purpose is not only to foster the more precise use of the language of medicine by doctors and biomedical scientists, but also to enhance their enjoyment of the vocabulary they use professionally on a daily basis. Readers will find that the book contains a wealth of knowledge and provides for some very pleasurable reading.







Death Dictionary


Book Description

From police jargon to medical terminology, from the coarse language of death row to literary euphemisms, over 5,550 words and terms associated directly with death and dying are defined in this unique dictionary. The entries have been collected from 65 cultures, nine religions and 20 fields of study, including archeology, cryonics, theology, theater and the military. Definitions are identified (e.g., archaic, obsolete, slang) and, when appropriate, the occupation it is most closely connected to and variants of the expression are provided. The appended thesaurus gives commonly used words and the terms that are synonymous with them.




Thingamajigs and Whatchamacallits


Book Description

Have you been guilty of catachresis* at work? Have you defenestrated* your dictionary in frustration? Do you have phloem bundles* stuck in your diastema*? Scratching your occiput* now? Rod L. Evans's Thingamajigs and Whatchamacallits will help take the mystery out of some of our most obscure words. Containing hundreds of words from agitron (the phenomenon of wiggly lines in comic strips indicating that something is shaking) to zarf (the holder for a paper cone coffee cup), this lively reference will enable you to easily locate your thingamajig or whatchamacallit, be it animal, vegetable, mineral, or punctuation mark. Leave no linguistic oddity unexamined-your brain will thank you. *catachresis: strained, paradoxical, or incorrect use of a word; *defenestrate: to throw out a window; *phloem bundles: stringy bits between the skin and the edible parts of a banana; *diastema: the gap between teeth in a jaw; *occiput: the back part of the head or skull




The Elements of Expression


Book Description

More than ever in this completely updated edition, The Elements of Expression helps word users "light up the cosmos or the written page or the face across the table" as they seek the radiance of expressiveness—the vivid expression of thoughts, feelings, and observations. Nothing kills radiance like the murky, generic language dominating today's talk, airwaves, and posts. It tugs at our every sentence, but using it to express anything beyond the ordinary is like flapping the tongue to escape gravity. The Elements of Expression offers an adventurous and inspiring flight into words that truly share what's percolating in our minds. Here writers, presenters, students, bloggers—even well intentioned "Mad Men"—will discover language to convey precise feelings, move audiences, delight and persuade. No snob or scold, the acclaimed word-maven Arthur Plotnik explores the full range of expressiveness, from playful "tough talk" to finely wrought literature, with hundreds of rousing examples. Confessing that we are all "like a squid in its ink" when first groping for luminous expression, he shines his amiable wit on the elements leading, ultimately, to language of "fissionable intensity."