Never Enough Words: How Americans Invented Expressions as Ingenious, Ornery, and Colorful as ThemselvesFrom native words to current coinages, the American vocabulary highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of the national personality. In Never Enough Words, Jeffrey McQuain, the noted guest writer for William Safire's On Language column, offers a fascinating look at the evolution of American language and the agility, with which Americans apply old words to new situations, resulting in new meanings. From the humorous (lawyer bird, named for its long bill) to the sonorous (whippoorwills and katydids, named for the sounds they make), McQuain demonstrates how our distinctive American traits -- bravado, inventiveness, and patriotism, to name a few -- have uniquely shaped our language. |
Common terms and phrases
abbreviation adjective Algonquian Amer American language American words animal appeared applied Bartlett became began Blue Laws Boston British English California called celebrated century ago Civil clipped coinages colonial dates back Davy Crockett decade later described dialect Dictionary of American drink earlier early England euphemism example explained expression frontier guage H. L. Mencken Harper's Magazine heard horse ican included Indian instance James Fenimore Cooper John known letter Mark Twain meaning modern Native Americans newspaper nineteenth century Noah Webster noun obsolete origin party perhaps person phrase play political popular president recent referred reported sense shortening sickout slang slang term sometimes southern speech spelling Stephen Vincent Benét story synonym tall talk thumbs tion today's took turn tury twentieth century United usage variant verb Virginia vocabulary WAGON West western William Safire woman World writer wrote Yankee York