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THE WORLD IN SO MANY WORDS

A COUNTRY-BY-COUNTRY TOUR OF WORDS THAT HAVE SHAPED OUR LANGUAGE

An entertaining and instructive etymological, around-the-world tour of English. Metcalf follows up the recent America in So Many Words (not reviewed), co-authored with prominent linguist David Barnhart. In his witty style and emphasis on semantics more than historical linguistics, Metcalf resembles Safire more than a scholarly Ruhlen, Onions or Skeat. He is usually clever when discussing the backgrounds of foreign words that have won a green card to English, such as “It was a stupid bird”—when discussing the Portuguese meaning of the dodo. Elsewhere, the professor settles for the lowest form of humor: “What’s gnu?” or “Boa o boa! You wouldn—t want to exchange hugs with an anaconda.” The recipe for turning a victim into a zombie and the reasons why the tsetse fly was never beaten are examples of extralinguistic information that make the book enjoyable reading. For pure etymology, however, the author neglects to give us the native meaning of a term more than half the time, and almost always when throwing in several other borrowings from a language in the final paragraph of each entry. In the Virginia Algonquian (Powhatan) entry, for example, the words moccasin, raccoon, opossum, tomahawk, and persimmon are not explained, even though their meanings are more interesting than the locale of their coinage. Some words are common enough to keep the reader intrigued, like amok, bikini, gung ho, java, lingo, and pajamas, but too many words involve animals, cultural terms, foods, or plants that the average reader never encounters. A well-written and -organized book on word origins for the global English speaker.

Pub Date: Sept. 20, 1999

ISBN: 0-395-95920-9

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

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NUTCRACKER

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

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