Full name: Blooming English: Observations on the Roots, Cultivation and Hybrids of the English Language

Author: Kate Burridge Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Non Fiction Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780521548328 0521548322

English is the most creative, changeable and imaginative of languages. Some words are invented to meet temporary needs and are quickly discarded; others carry meanings hundreds of years old. Language fascinates us, and we spend a lot of time playing with it, concocting everything from puns, riddles and secret languages to wonderful prose and poetry. We also worry about it a great deal, looking up and checking words in dictionaries and usage guides, occasionally arguing about definitions. This book celebrates our capacity to play with language, as well as examining the ways we use it: in slang and jargon, swearing, speaking the unspeakable, or concealing unpleasant or inconvenient facts. It is a book for browsing, for finding beguiling snippets about language, history and social customs, and for using as a formidable weapon in word games. This book is part of the "Blooming English" series. Here are some other books from this series: "Weeds in the Garden of Words" First published in 2004 Rank: , Original star rating: , Adjusted star rating: , Pop rating: Similar books: The English Language by David Crystal The Secret Life of Words by Henry Hitchings By Hook or By Crook by David Crystal The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg The Fight for English by David Crystal The Story of English in 100 Words by David Crystal The Stories of English by David Crystal Inventing English by Seth Lerer The Language Wars by Henry Hitchings Our Marvelous Native Tongue by Robert Claiborne The Miracle of Language by Richard Lederer Spell It Out by David Crystal The Story of English by Robert McCrum Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue by John McWhorter Word on the Street by John McWhorter Weeds in the Garden of Words by Kate Burridge Fervent by Priscilla Shirer The Amazing Book is Not on Fire by Dan Howell The Adventurous Eaters Club by Misha Collins The C Programming Language by Brian W. Kernighan