The Secret Lives of WordsWe are often unaware of the unique and intriguing stories of the words we love. Thousands of our words have been so twisted, tangled, misused, and muddled over the centuries that their original meaning has been obscured. You'll be surprised to learn that table napkins were once made of and referred to as asbestos, that atom means uncuttable, that a cloud was once a hill, and that a companion is one who eats bread with you. Compiled over the years in his handwritten notebooks, acclaimed prose stylist Paul West offers us an album of treasures. The Secret Lives of Words is an "Antiques Road Show" of language, in which West chronicles the centuries-long travels of words across continents and through cultures. For word enthusiasts, speakers, writers, thinkers, and all readers, this volume recounting the intimate ancestry of language will enrich our understanding of and appreciation for the words we use every day. |
What people are saying - Write a review
THE SECRET LIVES OF WORDS
User Review - Jane Doe - KirkusThis wonderfully curious and eclectic volume falls somewhere between a quirky dictionary and a romantic sonnet.Novelist West (The Dry Danube, p. 422, etc.) is irrevocably enamored with etymology, and ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - raizel - LibraryThingI've skimmed this book and it looks interesting. It is a list of words with comments about their origins and use. And in his explanations of the first and last words (abacus and zymurgist), he goes from dust to dust. Read full review
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
actually akin American ancient Anglo-Saxon Arabic ball became become blurb bread British called Cockney rhyming slang coined comes course cricket denote deriving dialect Diane Ackerman dictionaries diminutive doubt Dutch etymology famous fiction gerund gluons Greek haps heard human idea idiom Indo-European invented Italian language late Latin live look meaning meant metaphor Middle Dutch Middle English military mind modern Nazi never nineteenth century noun novel nowadays oddly Odysseus Old English Old French Old Norse once origin Paul West perhaps person phrase piropo plural poet prehistoric Germanic PREMARIN pudding quarks reference Rhesus Romans Samuel Beckett SCREW THE POOCH scuzz seems sense seventeenth century sixteenth century slang someone sometimes sound speech spin sure Syphilis teenth century term thing thought tion trying verb verbal Vulgar Latin whereas woman wonder word word's write
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Secret Lives of Words |
| Author | Paul West |
| Publisher | Harcourt, 2000 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | Feb 28, 2008 |
| ISBN | 0151004668, 9780151004669 |
| Length | 296 pages |
| Subjects | › › Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / Etymology Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |