Evan Morris

Well, I did enjoy this, quite a bit. But I've happened to be reading other books on etymology these days, and I find blogs etc. online, so this seems redundant. The other sources have dug deeper, too, and have revealed errors in Morris's conclusions. Well, and also a lot of the entries are just presentations of theories and, sometimes, his reasoning behind choosing a preference among them. I mean, "nobody knows" is an answer, but it's not worth a whole entry in a book, imo.

The wit is clever, show more but occasionally it gets in the way of understanding the lesson. The line drawings ('spot illustrations') by Carl Wiens are quite wonderful. The overall book is short, small, and easy to read. If this is, for you, the book easiest to get from your library, and you want to do some light reading on the subject, choose this. Otherwise, try to find something better.

I did appreciate that Carroll invented 'chortle' for [b:Jabberwocky|143988|Jabberwocky|Lewis Carroll|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387664201s/143988.jpg|43821337].
And that the Old English word for 'weaver' is 'webster.'
And that Fowler says that "Welsh rabbit is amusing and right, and Welsh rarebit stupid and wrong." show less

The dust jacket describes this work as “a collection of Morris’s language columns, which appear in newspapers around the world and on his popular Web site. The Q&A format makes for lively and unusual interactions between Morris and his readers. …This little book is chock-full of fascinating lore about the origins and uses of the English language…”

What can I say that isn’t already covered by the dust jacket? It’s more than just a collection, it’s a handy reference tool, show more covering everything from soup to nuts – well, maybe not everything, but quite a lot, beginning with amok and ending with zarf.

I used to love to read encyclopedias and dictionaries. I’d open a volume to a random page and just start reading. I found it enlightening and relaxing – a great break from (or way to avoid) studying whatever I was supposed to be studying. And what teacher/librarian/parent would scold me for looking something up in the dictionary? Those of us who love language and words will find plenty to delight, intrigue and tickle our fancies (whatever THAT phrase means – it’s not covered in this volume). Still, a little goes a long way, and reading it cover to cover as I did for a challenge meant that I grew bored. show less

Expired. Gopher, IRC, Usenet, no Google, no Blogs...
Maybe of historical interest to youngsters who have no idea what their grandparents had to struggle with. I can definitely see that it was well-done for the time.

It's a bit snarky for me. Humorous compendium of faux questions/answers about the origin of words.