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An Introduction to English Morphology
Andrew Carstairs-Mccarthy
Paperback - $38.95
What exactly are words? Are they the things that get listed in dictionaries, or are they the basic units of sentence structure? Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy explores the implications of these different approaches to words in English. He explains the var ...
Why Do We Say It? : The Stories Behind the Words, Expressions and Cliches We Use
Castle Books
Hardcover - $10.95
The stories behind the words and phrases we use.
The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories
Glynnis Chantrell
Paperback - $27.95
Informative and enlightening, this volume describes the origins and sense development of over 11,000 words in the English language. Well-known idioms such as "say it with flowers" are highlighted with the dates of their original use and how and when ...
Loose Cannons, Red Herrings, and Other Lost Metaphors
Robert Claiborne
Paperback - $24.95
The English Language is a treasury of splendid mysteries, among them the many words and phrases whose origins we no longer know. Often the original meaning was literal, pertaining to forgotten objects or activities -- such as "aftermath", which once ...
From Achilles' Heel to Zeus's Shield
Dale Corey Dibbley
Paperback - $30.95
Did you know that to tantalize recalls how Greek mythology's Tantalus was tortured by the food and drink just beyond his grasp? If someone goes berserk, he is emulating the Viking warriors of Norse myth - fabled for reckless bravery that bordered on ...
The Reverend Guppy's Aquarium : From Joseph Frisbie to Roy Jacuzzi, How Everyday Items Were Named for Extraordinary People
Philip Dodd
Hardcover - $30.95
Spellbound : The Surprising Origins and Astonishing Secrets of English Spelling
James Essinger
Paperback - $20.95
Welcome to the illogical, idiosyncratic, outrageous linguistic phenomenon known as the English language. In this eye-opening, fabulously entertaining book, Essinger unlocks the mysteries that have confounded linguists and scholars for millennia.
A History of Language
Steven Roger Fischer
Paperback - $28.95
It is tempting to take the tremendous rate of contemporary linguistic change for granted. What is required, in fact, is a radical reinterpretation of what language is. Steven Roger Fischer begins his book with an examination of the modes of communica ...
Horsefeathers : & Other Curious Words
Charles Earle Funk
Paperback - $20.95
If readers have ever wondered why the candy is called butterscotch; why a certain Southern food is called a hushpuppy; or why log supports in a fireplace are known as andirons, or, sometimes, firedogs; then they'll be fascinated by the origins of the ...