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Bookish Words & their Surprising Stories
$32.99
The world of books has played a significant role in the development of the English language and its vocabulary. Book itself is one of the oldest words in the language, originating from boc in Old English, and appears in many commonly used expressions today – by the book, bring to book and bookworm – to name a few.
With the advent of printing, typesetting, and the development of the newspaper industry came terminology that evolved into commonly used phrases, such as "stop the press," "front-page news," and "hit the headlines." The emergence of the internet has generated even more.
This anthology presents a selection of more than 100 words that demonstrate the influence of writing, reading, and publishing books on our everyday vocabulary over the centuries, revealing the stories behind their linguistic origins and uncovering some surprising twists in the development of their meaning over time.
Contributor Bio
David Crystal is a writer, editor, lecturer and broadcaster on language, and honorary professor of linguistics at Bangor University. His many books include The Cambridge Encyclopedia of English Language (CUP 3rd edn, 2019) and A Date with Language (Bodleian Library 2023). He lives online at www.davidcrystal.com.
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