Examines the etymological origins and developments of one hundred words, including "brothel," "grin," and "zombie."

"The book is for those who take joy in the boundless eccentricities of language. The book's daily entries of obscure words are each linked to a quirk, anecdote, or commemoration that tie them to history."--Provided by publisher.

The word bitch conjures many images for many people, but it is most often meant to describe an unpleasant woman. Even before its usage to mean a female canine, bitch didn't refer to gender at all-it originated as a gender-neutral word meaning genitalia. A perfectly innocuous word devolving into a female insult is the case for tons more terms, including hussy-which simply meant housewife-or slut, which meant an untidy person and was also used to describe...

Where do our everyday words come from? The bagel you eat for breakfast, the bumf you have to wade through at the office, and the bus that takes you home again: we use these words without thinking about their origins or how their meanings have changed over time. Simon Horobin takes the reader on a journey through a typical day, showing how the words we use to describe routine activities - getting up, going to work, eating meals - have surprisingly...

"If you want to know more about the histories of words than you can find in a dictionary entry or a collection of (often erroneous) etymologies, this is the only book that can help you. A thorough investigation of the history of the science of etymology, Word Origins is the first book to make this arcane endeavor more accessible to the nonspecialist reader."--BOOK JACKET.

"Standard grammar and accurate spelling are widely considered hallmarks of a good education, but their exact definitions are much more contentious -- capable of inciting a full-blown grammar war at the splice of a comma, battles readily visible in the media and online in the comments of blogs and chat rooms. With an accessible and enthusiastic journalistic approach, Ostler considers these grammatical shibboleths, tracing current debates back to America's...

Eddie and MJ are suddenly transported to India where they must use their word knowledge to solve a mystery and help their new friend Dev save his school.

From new words such as "bling" and "email" to the role of text messaging and other electronic communications, English is changing all around us. Discover the secrets behind the words in our everyday lexicon with this delightful, informative survey of English, from its Germanic origins to the rise of globalization and cyber-communications. Professor Curzan approaches words like an archaeologist, digging below the surface to uncover the story of

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