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Interviews | June 19, 2009

All posts by Dave Jim Lynch Makes Landscape Art... Out of Text

If Carl Hiaasen set one of his novels on a residential stretch of boundary line between British Columbia and Washington, or if Richard Russo's characters had relatives in the Pacific Northwest, the result might be something like Jim Lynch's Border Songs. Continue »


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    Border Songs

    Jim Lynch

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3 Burnside Linguistics- English Linguistics and Dialects
1 Burnside Reference- Words on Words
1 Hawthorne Reference- Words on Words
25 Local Warehouse Reference- Etymology
25 Remote Warehouse Reference- Etymology


The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English

by Henry Hitchings

The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Words are essential to our everyday lives. An average person spends his or her day enveloped in conversations, e-mails, phone calls, text messages, directions, headlines, and more. But how often do we stop to think about the origins of the words we use? Have you ever thought about which words in English have been borrowed from Arabic, Dutch, or Portuguese? Try admiral, landscape, and marmalade, just for starters.  The Secret Life of Words is a wide-ranging account not only of the history of English language and vocabulary, but also of how words witness history, reflect social change, and remind us of our past. Henry Hitchings delves into the insatiable, ever-changing English language and reveals how and why it has absorbed words from more than 350 other languagesmany originating from the most unlikely of places, such as shampoo from Hindi and kiosk from Turkish. From the Norman Conquest to the present day, Hitchings narrates the story of English as a living archive of our human experience. He uncovers the secrets behind everyday words and explores the surprising origins of our most commonplace expressions. The Secret Life of Words is a rich, lively celebration of the language and vocabulary that we too often take for granted.

Synopsis:

"The Secret Life of Words" is a wide-ranging account not only of the history of English language and vocabulary, but also of how words witness history, reflect social change, and remind societies of its past.

About the Author

Henry Hitchings was born in 1974. Educated at the universities of Oxford and London, he is the author of Defining the World and has contributed to many newspapers and magazines.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780374254100
Subtitle:
How English Became English
Author:
Hitchings, Henry
Publisher:
Farrar Straus Giroux
Subject:
Etymology
Subject:
English language
Subject:
History
Subject:
English language -- Etymology.
Subject:
English language -- Lexicography -- History.
Edition Description:
Trade Cloth
Publication Date:
September 2008
Binding:
Hardcover
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Notes/Bibliography/Index
Pages:
448
Dimensions:
9.00 x 6.00 in

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