Items related to The Secret Life of the English Language: Buttering...
Fine words butter no parsnips” is an expression dating back 400 years. Twocking and chav are popular new arrivals in the ever-growing vocabulary of British slang. What do words and phrases like these have in common, and what sets them apart? That’s what this fascinating book sets out to explore. Along the way, it illuminates the whole process of word formation and proliferation. How are new words and phrases born? What’s special about the ones that enter common usage? How do mistakes and jokes affect a word’s career? Why do some words die, never to be used again? With examples ranging from Shakespeare to text messaging, this is a browsable collection rich with amusing quotations, unusual anecdotes, and clever wordplay.
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About the Author:
Martin H. Manser has been a professional reference book editor since 1980. He has compiled or edited more than 150 reference books, particularly English-language dictionaries, thesauruses, and Bible reference titles. He is also a language trainer and consultant with national companies and organizations. He and his wife live in Aylesbury and have a son and a daughter.
Review:
an entertaining compendium showing, above all else, that words have a matchless power to entertain * HUDDERSFIELD DAILY EXAMINER * [a] tasty gallimaufry of linguistic oddities * INDEPENDENT *
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherPhoenix
- Publication date2008
- ISBN 10 0753824175
- ISBN 13 9780753824177
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages271
- EditorPickering David
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The Secret Life of The English Language Buttering Parsnips and Twocking Chavs
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The Secret Life of the English Language (Paperback)
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Our langauge is one of delight and curiosity. BUTTERING PARSNIPS, TWOCKING CHAVS is a guided tour of English, exploring the origins of words, their changing meaning, lexical peculiarities, word games and lost words, presented in lists, small passages of narrative text, amusing quotations and nuggets of amazing facts.This must-have compendium shows that words have a matchless power to entertain. Here you will find enough new words and phrases to last a lifetime. Idioms frolic beside cliches, catchphrases, proverbs, eponyms, acronyms, spoonerisms and split infinitives. Text messages cavort alongside business jargon and rap slang to produce a language that is both witty and bizarre and sometimes frankly outstanding.So whether you're a yuppie or a woopie, a sinbad or dinky, a spod or even a wazzock, these pages will provide endless hours of delight and fascination. A more-ishly browsable collection of words and phrases, linguistic quirks, lexical oddities and syntactic surprises. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780753824177
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ISBN 13: 9780753824177
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Our langauge is one of delight and curiosity. BUTTERING PARSNIPS, TWOCKING CHAVS is a guided tour of English, exploring the origins of words, their changing meaning, lexical peculiarities, word games and lost words, presented in lists, small passages of narrative text, amusing quotations and nuggets of amazing facts.This must-have compendium shows that words have a matchless power to entertain. Here you will find enough new words and phrases to last a lifetime. Idioms frolic beside cliches, catchphrases, proverbs, eponyms, acronyms, spoonerisms and split infinitives. Text messages cavort alongside business jargon and rap slang to produce a language that is both witty and bizarre and sometimes frankly outstanding.So whether you're a yuppie or a woopie, a sinbad or dinky, a spod or even a wazzock, these pages will provide endless hours of delight and fascination. A more-ishly browsable collection of words and phrases, linguistic quirks, lexical oddities and syntactic surprises. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780753824177
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