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beammey's review against another edition
5.0
*I was given an ARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
This book is so fun! I ended up devouring it and can't wait to use some of these words in my daily life. The stories behind some of the words is so entertaining and I found myself laughing sometimes. I learned so much. What a great resource, and so fun too. I would recommend this to anyone. 5 out of 5 stars.
This book is so fun! I ended up devouring it and can't wait to use some of these words in my daily life. The stories behind some of the words is so entertaining and I found myself laughing sometimes. I learned so much. What a great resource, and so fun too. I would recommend this to anyone. 5 out of 5 stars.
portybelle's review
5.0
This book has a stunningly beautiful cover and you'll find a real treasure trove of delights inside. As someone who is fascinated by words and where they come from, this was the perfect book for me to dip in and out of.
The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities has a word per page for each day of the year. As well as defining the word, the author has an anecdote or further explanation to go with each. There has obviously been a huge amount of research carried out in order to make this such a readable and fascinating book.
Words that really caught my fancy were letterling (a short letter or note - 3rd August), lickpenny (a costly enterprise - 30th March), love-light (a romantic glimmer in a person's eyes - used, if I recall correctly, in Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight' and the word for 12th October) and brolly-hop (a parachute jump - 22nd October). It really amuses me that the quite long word breviloquent (4th March) means pithy or succint, characterised by brevity of speech. There really is a huge collection of fascinating, entertaining and enlightening words in this book, just waiting to be discovered.
The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities has a word per page for each day of the year. As well as defining the word, the author has an anecdote or further explanation to go with each. There has obviously been a huge amount of research carried out in order to make this such a readable and fascinating book.
Words that really caught my fancy were letterling (a short letter or note - 3rd August), lickpenny (a costly enterprise - 30th March), love-light (a romantic glimmer in a person's eyes - used, if I recall correctly, in Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight' and the word for 12th October) and brolly-hop (a parachute jump - 22nd October). It really amuses me that the quite long word breviloquent (4th March) means pithy or succint, characterised by brevity of speech. There really is a huge collection of fascinating, entertaining and enlightening words in this book, just waiting to be discovered.
annieb123's review
5.0
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities is a collection of obsolete etymological weirdness, linguistic dead ends, and other fascinating features of the English language. Due out 14th Oct 2019 from the University of Chicago press, it's 384 pages and will be available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.
I'm a self avowed word nerd. I love language and the way it has shaped (and been shaped by) human culture and interaction. This book was a gold mine of interesting tidbits of which I was previously unaware. The format of the book is simple. It's set up in a 'word a day' calendar format with a word and some of its etymology related in a conversational and informal short essay of roughly 1-2 pages. I was truly impressed with how few of these words were previously known to me. There are worthy words here and a fair bit of related linguistic history.
The book also includes an alphabetical word list of the included words and a short bibliography (several of which are now on my to-be-read pile).
I enjoyed the book, loved the format, and think this would make a really superlative holiday gift for anyone with an appreciation for linguistics as well as a cracking addition to the home (or public) library.
Five stars, a truly fun book.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities is a collection of obsolete etymological weirdness, linguistic dead ends, and other fascinating features of the English language. Due out 14th Oct 2019 from the University of Chicago press, it's 384 pages and will be available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.
I'm a self avowed word nerd. I love language and the way it has shaped (and been shaped by) human culture and interaction. This book was a gold mine of interesting tidbits of which I was previously unaware. The format of the book is simple. It's set up in a 'word a day' calendar format with a word and some of its etymology related in a conversational and informal short essay of roughly 1-2 pages. I was truly impressed with how few of these words were previously known to me. There are worthy words here and a fair bit of related linguistic history.
The book also includes an alphabetical word list of the included words and a short bibliography (several of which are now on my to-be-read pile).
I enjoyed the book, loved the format, and think this would make a really superlative holiday gift for anyone with an appreciation for linguistics as well as a cracking addition to the home (or public) library.
Five stars, a truly fun book.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
bysoleilceline's review against another edition
4.0
I'm a linguistics major so this work is particularly interesting to me. It's not the type of book I would personally read cover-to-cover although I know fellow classmates who certainly would, but I really enjoyed flipping through it to certain sections and pages and learning more about some linguistics curiosities. I can't wait to give it a more in-depth look over with colleagues, classmates, and professors. Definitely one I would recommend to others. The excerpts were neat and unique and perfect for a slow rainy day with a cup of tea by the window. I think the best way to enjoy this book is by reading it as it advices on the first page, one story a day for a year, slowly sipping the enjoyment. Another interesting thing about this book is how much I feel like I have learned for my own writing, these little unique words are what can truly elevate and make a story.
beammey's review
5.0
*I was given an ARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
This book is so fun! I ended up devouring it and can't wait to use some of these words in my daily life. The stories behind some of the words is so entertaining and I found myself laughing sometimes. I learned so much. What a great resource, and so fun too. I would recommend this to anyone. 5 out of 5 stars.
This book is so fun! I ended up devouring it and can't wait to use some of these words in my daily life. The stories behind some of the words is so entertaining and I found myself laughing sometimes. I learned so much. What a great resource, and so fun too. I would recommend this to anyone. 5 out of 5 stars.
carysgw's review
2.0
Etymology isn’t really my kind of thing
But there were a few interesting ones in here
But there were a few interesting ones in here
managedbybooks's review
This was so fun and interesting! Linguistics is a fascinating topic so I was really excited to read this book. It's set up so you have one word for every day of the year. I loved getting a little bit of historical info to go with each word and a bit of culture, as well.
emmalita's review
4.0
On a whim, I requested The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities: A Yearbook of Forgotten Words from NetGalley. I received it in exchange for an honest review. Unlike most NetGalley books, this one was released in 2017 and is available now. I’ve enjoyed it and would recommend it as a gift for language lovers. It is what it says it is, a year’s worth of forgotten words arranged by date, often the word is related to an incident that happened on that date in history. It’s fun, occasional reading.
The author, Paul Anthony Jones, is clearly a lover of words. He has written 6 books about “obscure words and language facts” and runs the twitter account @HaggardHawks. His website describes the book as:
Inspired by the daily “Word of the Day” tweets over on the @HaggardHawks Twitter feed, The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities brings together an entire year’s worth of daily obscure vocabulary—with a twist of fascinating historical context added for good measure.
I enjoy when people are sharing the thing they love, even if it isn’t something I love. I’m a reader, so obviously I have a strong affection for words. I found this book surprisingly readable. I skipped around, looking at the word on my birth date (the oddly appropriate monomachy), other friends’ birth dates, and randomly flipping through. One of my favorite entries was early in the book, January 8:
This would be a good book gift for a word lover.
The word for today, June 24th, is:
The author, Paul Anthony Jones, is clearly a lover of words. He has written 6 books about “obscure words and language facts” and runs the twitter account @HaggardHawks. His website describes the book as:
Inspired by the daily “Word of the Day” tweets over on the @HaggardHawks Twitter feed, The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities brings together an entire year’s worth of daily obscure vocabulary—with a twist of fascinating historical context added for good measure.
I enjoy when people are sharing the thing they love, even if it isn’t something I love. I’m a reader, so obviously I have a strong affection for words. I found this book surprisingly readable. I skipped around, looking at the word on my birth date (the oddly appropriate monomachy), other friends’ birth dates, and randomly flipping through. One of my favorite entries was early in the book, January 8:
Sheep’s-eye (v.) to look amorously at someone
Although the bill’s impenetrable legalese kept its rulings fairly vague, its architect, State Assemblyman Francis G. Landon, was less ambiguous when it came to explaining who he intended it to target. As he explained to the New York Morning Telegraph, ‘My bill is aimed at the flirters, gigglers, mashers, and makers of goo-goo eyes in public. We have all been disgusted with them . . . so they must be brought to their senses.’ Anyone caught in violation of Landon’s bill faced a $500 fine, or even up to a year in prison. Remarkably, Landon’s bill was passed the following day. Even more remarkably, it has never been repealed–meaning flirting has officially been illegal in New York ever since.
This would be a good book gift for a word lover.
The word for today, June 24th, is:
choreomania (n.) a mania for dancing
Nowadays, the word choreomania tends to be used fairly loosely, referring merely to a fondness or enthusiasm for dancing. But when it first appeared in English in the mid 1800s, use of the word wasn’t quite so frivolous: originally, choreomania referred to a literal and sometimes even fatal ‘dancing madness’, an epidemic of which broke out in Aachen, Germany, on 24 June 1374.
On this date, hundreds of townspeople in Aachen and the surrounding villages began inexplicably to dance around the streets, gyrating and leaping into the air for hours–and eventually days and weeks–on end. The maniacal ‘dancers’ would not eat or sleep, but merely dance continuously until they collapsed from total exhaustion.
Precisely what caused this outbreak of choreomania–which is also known simply as chorea, or St Vitus’ dance in honour of the patron saint of dancing–is unknown.