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A review by portybelle
The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities: A Yearbook of Forgotten Words by Paul Anthony Jones
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.