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The Financial Times, Sue Cameron - F-word writ large Floccinaucinihilipilification the mot juste for what many people feel about politics. What does it mean? Why, contemptuously dismissing something or treating it as worthless. This gem comes from a new book called The English Wordsmith, written by lawyer David Andrews. The book, described as a lexical eclecsis includes 8000 difficult, obscure and unusual words. Its author, a bon vivant known to his friends as 'Sir Hartley' after the great advocate Sir Hartley Shawcross, was an expert on estoppel. The Wordsmith says this is a legal rule that stops somebody from acting in a way that is at variance with something they have previously said or done. That should apply to politicians!--- The Independent on Sunday - David Andrews said Taking information from one source is plagiarism. Taking it from many is original research . Other words in the eclecsis include sesquipedalian (given to using long words) and forswonk (overworked). --- Robert McCrum The Observer - Do you get a secret thrill from knowing that eclecsis means a compilation from various sources , or feel a twinge of superiority in the precise use of hone not home ? And were you pleased to hear President Obama, last week saying orient where many people would say orientate ? If you are not a professional subeditor then you are what Lynne Truss calls a stickler and a snoot (for Syntax Nudnicks of Our Time). For as long as there has been a recognisable language, the colour, texture and everyday use of English has inspired the kind of devotion that lies north of obsession but south of idolatry.---Andrews was a snoot, an extreme useage fanatic defined as somebody who knows what dysphemism means and does not mind letting you know it.--- The Guardian. Steven Poole - The English Wordsmith, logomanes might enjoy this hefty alphabetical collection. Pleasing obscurities abound, however: new to this reader were aduncous ( hooked, curved inward ), eident ( busy;diligent ), nutant ( nodding ) and zoilism ( fierce criticism ),which might come in handy.The book also works as a kind of aleatory encyclopedia. A subtle humour occasionally makes itself felt, as when cacoethes: an urge to do something unwise is followed by cacoethes scribendi: an urge to write . Tell me about it. --- The Spectator MIND YOUR LANGUAGE. A labour of love of the strangest kind,Flo... etc.--- Another 7,999 of Mr Andrews words to go. - Dot Wordsworth.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/between-the-covers-29052011-2290353.html Between The Covers: 29/05/2011 Your weekly guide to what's really going on in the world of books Sunday, 29 May 2011 *What is a kylie? It is a boomerang, according to a new book of 8,000 interesting and obscure words called The English Wordsmith: A Lexical Eclecsis (The Great Wordsmith LLP, GBP12.99). And what is an eclecsis? Why, it is a compilation from various sources. The author, David Andrews, was an avid collector of words who completed the work just before his death in 2010, and who said: Taking information from one source is plagiarism. Taking it from many is original research. Other words in the eclecsis, which runs from aa to zymurgy (heads up, Scrabble fans), include sesquipedalian (given to using long words) and forswonk (overworked). We'd guess that there are still not words to describe how the Poetry Book Society and its ilk feel about the pigging bankers and the coalition shysters, however.

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