The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words

From the creator of the popular A.Word.A.Day e-mail newsletter

A collection of some of the most interesting stories and fascinating origins behind more than 300 words, names, and terms by the founder of WordSmith.org.

Did you know:

Ther‛s a word for the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell? Petrichor, combining petros (Greek for stone) and ichor (the fluid that flows in the veins of Greek gods).

An illeist is one who refers to oneself in the third person.

Ther‛s a word for feigning lack of interest in something while actually desiring it: accismus.

For any aspiring deipnosophist (a good conversationalist at meals) or devoted Philomath (a lover of learning), this anthology of entertaining etymology is an ideal way to have fun while getting smarter.

"Garg, logophilic founder of wordsmith.org and the 600,000-subscriber A.Word.A.Day email newsletter, jam-packs his latest good-natured, reader-friendly book (after Another Word A Day) with terms exotic and domestic, lessons in etymology and surprising tricks of the linguist trade, such as the fact that 'as a copyright trap... encyclopedia publishers are known to add a fictitious biography or two to their works.' Divided into several short chapters, each with a unique focus, Garg covers topics like the 'language mint' successes ('Grok,' 'Scofflaw,' 'Teetotal'), words that come from fictional character names ('Prufrockian,' 'Throttlebottom,' 'Zelig'), food-speak ('Epicurean,' 'Julienne,' 'Postprandial') and units of measurement ('Dol,' 'Millihelen,' 'Miner's Inch'). 'Lexperts,' as Garg calls them, will enjoy testing themselves with 77 trivial pursuit-style questions, though readers may bemoan the lack of a comprehensive index. Otherwise, Garg's latest little gem will be enjoyed by anyone with a thing for words, language and history." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

This collection features some of the most interesting stories and fascinating origins behind more than 300 words, names, and terms. For any devoted "philomath" (a lover of learning), this anthology of entertaining etymology is an ideal way to have fun with language.

From the creator of the popular A.Word.A.Day e-mail newsletter

A collection of some of the most interesting stories and fascinating origins behind more than 300 words, names, and terms by the founder of WordSmith.org.

Did you know:

Theres a word for the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell? Petrichor, combining petros (Greek for stone) and ichor (the fluid that flows in the veins of Greek gods).

An illeist is one who refers to oneself in the third person.

Theres a word for feigning lack of interest in something while actually desiring it: accismus.

For any aspiring deipnosophist (a good conversationalist at meals) or devoted Philomath (a lover of learning), this anthology of entertaining etymology is an ideal way to have fun while getting smarter.

ANU GARG is the founder of Wordsmith.org, an online community of word lovers from 200 countries, now in its thirteenth year. He is also the creator of the A.Word.A.Day e-mail newsletter with more than 600,000 subscribers, and the author of the books A Word A Day and Another Word A Day.