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Author:   Arika Okrent (Linguist and author of In the Land of Invented Languages, Linguist and author of In the Land of Invented Languages) ,  Sean O'Neill
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 20.10cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 14.50cm
Weight:   0.318kg
ISBN:  

9780197760918

ISBN 10:   0197760910
Pages:   272
Publication Date:   03 June 2024
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

"What the Hell, English? The Colonel of Truth: What is the deal with the word colonel? Fairweather Vowels: Why is y a sometimes vowel? Hey Large Spender: Why do we order a large drink and not a big one? Crazy English: Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? What the Hell is with What the Hell? Blame the Barbarians Thoroughly Tough, Right?: Why don't tough, through, and dough rhyme? Getting and Giving the General Gist: Why are there two ways to say the letter g? Egging them On: What is the egg doing in egg on? I Ated All the Cookies: Why do we have irregular verbs? It Goes by so Fastly: Why do we move slowly but not fastly? And step softly but not hardly? Elegantly Clad and Stylishly Shod: Why is it clean-shaven and not clean-shaved? Six of One, Half a Twoteen of the Other: Why is it eleven, twelve instead of oneteen, twoteen? Woe is We: Why is it woe is me, not I am woe? Blame the French A Sizeable, Substantial, Extensive Vocabulary: Why are there so many synonyms? Don't inSULT me with that INsult: Why are there noun-verb pairs that only differ by stress? Without Fail: Why is it without fail and not failure or failing? Ask the Poets Laureate: Why is it sum total and not total sum? Of Unrequited Lof: Why isn't of spelled with a v? Blame the Printing Press Uninvited Ghuests: Why are ghost, ghastly, and ghoul spelled with a gh? Gnat, Knot, Comb, Wrist: Why do we have silent consonants? Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda: Why is there a silent l? Peek, Peak, Piece, People: Why are there so many ways to write the 'ee' sound? Crew, Grew, Stew, New...Sew?: Why don't sew and new rhyme? Blame the snobs Get Receipts on those Extra Letters: Why is there a p in receipt, an l in salmon, and a b in doubt? Asthma, Phelgm, and Diarrhea: Why all the extra letters? The Data are in on the Octopi: What's the deal with Latin plurals? Too Much Discretion: Keeping discreet and discrete discrete, discreetly Pick a Color/Colour: Can't we get this standardized/standardised? Blame ourselves Couth, Kempt, and Ruthful: Why have some words lost their better halves? If it Ain't Broke, Don't Scramble It: Why is There no egg in eggplant? Proving the Rule: How can an exception prove a rule? How Dare You Say How Try You!: Why dare isn't like the other verbs Release the Meese: Why isn't the plural of moose meese? Why do Noses Run and Feet Smell?: A corny joke with a serious answer Negative Fixation: Why can you say ""this won't take long"" but not ""this will take long""? Abbreviation Deflation: Why is there an r in Mrs.? How it Comes to Be: How come we say how come? Phrasal Verbs, Let's Go Over Them: But don't try to ""go them over."" (You can look them over though) Terrible and Terrific, Awful and Awesome: How does the same root get opposite meanings? Literally Messed Up: How did literally get to mean figuratively? That's Enough, Now, English Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography"

Reviews

"In more than 40 brief, readable chapters, Okrent brings both erudition and wit to the history of English and the mechanisms of language change and all the quirky consequences ... Every language should have a book like this one. * E. L. Battistella, CHOICE * Okrent's book provides an all-encompassing and detailed overview of how earlier stages of the English language and language change can explain many present-day English irregularities ... Okrent brings order to the world of irregularities in the English language. * Anke Lensch, Linguist List * ...she explains well why the language remains such a minefield for even educated native speakers, never mind those picking it up as a second or third tongue. * Mark Broatch, NZ Listener * I love everything about this book. Arika Okrent is insightful, funny, and answers questions you didn't even know you had! * Mignon Fogarty, author of Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing * Arika Okrent is the best at taking oft-repeated stories about English and pushing them a step deeper. If you buy one 'fun facts about English' book, make it this one. Lively explanations from Okrent plus charming drawings by O'Neill make for a highly engaging book perfect for answering your (or your kid's) questions about the oddities of the English language. * Gretchen McCulloch, author of Because Internet and host of Lingthusiasm * Don't let the joy of reading these stories fool you. Arika Okrent brings real intellectual heft to researching them. As you find yourself eagerly passing them on, you'll realize how much serious stuff about language you've learned too. * Lane Greene, author of Talk on the Wild Side and You Are What You Speak * Arika Okrent has done the magic trick of compiling the kinds of questions the general public actually asks about language, instead of the kinds of questions we linguists would LIKE the public to ask. EverybodyDLincluding many linguists!DLwill feast on every page. * John McWhorter, Professor of Linguistics at Columbia University, host of the language podcast Lexicon Valley, and Contributing Editor at The Atlantic * One of the most appealing features of Highly Irregular is its stock of poems and brain-teasers illustrating the language's more absurd quirks. * Henry Hitchings, The Wall Street Journal * The English language bristles with words whose spelling and pronunciation are at odds. Words that look as though they should rhyme do not: tough, through, dough. Words that are spelled differently sound exactly the same: so, sow, sew. Some have pronunciations that seem almost unrelated to their written forms – could anyone confronted for the first time with colonel figure out that it's <""kernel>""? In her wonderful new book, linguist Arika Okrent dives into these questions. * Melissa Mohr, Christian Science Monitor * The book has so many virtues it's hard to know where to start. * Orin Hargraves, Visual Thesaurus * [Okrent's] careful tracing of the steps that brought the language to the way it is now builds a picture of social and historical factors as much as linguistic ones. She provides a sense of order in the chaos It is a delight to see the way this unruly system quietly gets on, doing its job of allowing us to communicate. Okrent's experience in linguistic communication allows her to explain even technical concepts clearly."" - Laura R. Bailey, Times Literary Supplement [A] learned and captivating study of how the weirdness of our language unfolded....[Okrent] wields sharp and powerful tools that satisfyingly scratch our linguaphilic itch. * Michael M. Rosen, National Review *"

"In more than 40 brief, readable chapters, Okrent brings both erudition and wit to the history of English and the mechanisms of language change and all the quirky consequences ... Every language should have a book like this one. * E. L. Battistella, CHOICE * Okrent's book provides an all-encompassing and detailed overview of how earlier stages of the English language and language change can explain many present-day English irregularities ... Okrent brings order to the world of irregularities in the English language. * Anke Lensch, Linguist List * ...she explains well why the language remains such a minefield for even educated native speakers, never mind those picking it up as a second or third tongue. * Mark Broatch, NZ Listener * I love everything about this book. Arika Okrent is insightful, funny, and answers questions you didn't even know you had! * Mignon Fogarty, author of Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing * Arika Okrent is the best at taking oft-repeated stories about English and pushing them a step deeper. If you buy one 'fun facts about English' book, make it this one. Lively explanations from Okrent plus charming drawings by O'Neill make for a highly engaging book perfect for answering your (or your kid's) questions about the oddities of the English language. * Gretchen McCulloch, author of Because Internet and host of Lingthusiasm * Don't let the joy of reading these stories fool you. Arika Okrent brings real intellectual heft to researching them. As you find yourself eagerly passing them on, you'll realize how much serious stuff about language you've learned too. * Lane Greene, author of Talk on the Wild Side and You Are What You Speak * Arika Okrent has done the magic trick of compiling the kinds of questions the general public actually asks about language, instead of the kinds of questions we linguists would LIKE the public to ask. Everybody—including many linguists!—will feast on every page. * John McWhorter, Professor of Linguistics at Columbia University, host of the language podcast Lexicon Valley, and Contributing Editor at The Atlantic * One of the most appealing features of Highly Irregular is its stock of poems and brain-teasers illustrating the language's more absurd quirks. * Henry Hitchings, The Wall Street Journal * The English language bristles with words whose spelling and pronunciation are at odds. Words that look as though they should rhyme do not: tough, through, dough. Words that are spelled differently sound exactly the same: so, sow, sew. Some have pronunciations that seem almost unrelated to their written forms – could anyone confronted for the first time with colonel figure out that it's <""kernel>""? In her wonderful new book, linguist Arika Okrent dives into these questions. * Melissa Mohr, Christian Science Monitor * The book has so many virtues it's hard to know where to start. * Orin Hargraves, Visual Thesaurus * [Okrent's] careful tracing of the steps that brought the language to the way it is now builds a picture of social and historical factors as much as linguistic ones. She provides a sense of order in the chaos It is a delight to see the way this unruly system quietly gets on, doing its job of allowing us to communicate. Okrent's experience in linguistic communication allows her to explain even technical concepts clearly."" - Laura R. Bailey, Times Literary Supplement [A] learned and captivating study of how the weirdness of our language unfolded....[Okrent] wields sharp and powerful tools that satisfyingly scratch our linguaphilic itch. * Michael M. Rosen, National Review *"

"""In more than 40 brief, readable chapters, Okrent brings both erudition and wit to the history of English and the mechanisms of language change and all the quirky consequences ... Every language should have a book like this one."" -- E. L. Battistella, CHOICE""Okrent's book provides an all-encompassing and detailed overview of how earlier stages of the English language and language change can explain many present-day English irregularities ... Okrent brings order to the world of irregularities in the English language."" -- Anke Lensch, Linguist List""...she explains well why the language remains such a minefield for even educated native speakers, never mind those picking it up as a second or third tongue."" -- Mark Broatch, NZ Listener""I love everything about this book. Arika Okrent is insightful, funny, and answers questions you didn't even know you had!"" -- Mignon Fogarty, author of Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing""Arika Okrent is the best at taking oft-repeated stories about English and pushing them a step deeper. If you buy one 'fun facts about English' book, make it this one. Lively explanations from Okrent plus charming drawings by O'Neill make for a highly engaging book perfect for answering your (or your kid's) questions about the oddities of the English language."" -- Gretchen McCulloch, author of Because Internet and host of Lingthusiasm""Don't let the joy of reading these stories fool you. Arika Okrent brings real intellectual heft to researching them. As you find yourself eagerly passing them on, you'll realize how much serious stuff about language you've learned too."" -- Lane Greene, author of Talk on the Wild Side and You Are What You Speak""Arika Okrent has done the magic trick of compiling the kinds of questions the general public actually asks about language, instead of the kinds of questions we linguists would LIKE the public to ask. EverybodyDLincluding many linguists!DLwill feast on every page."" -- John McWhorter, Professor of Linguistics at Columbia University, host of the language podcast Lexicon Valley, and Contributing Editor at The Atlantic""One of the most appealing features of Highly Irregular is its stock of poems and brain-teasers illustrating the language's more absurd quirks."" -- Henry Hitchings, The Wall Street Journal""The English language bristles with words whose spelling and pronunciation are at odds. Words that look as though they should rhyme do not: tough, through, dough. Words that are spelled differently sound exactly the same: so, sow, sew. Some have pronunciations that seem almost unrelated to their written forms â€"" could anyone confronted for the first time with colonel figure out that it's ""kernel""? In her wonderful new book, linguist Arika Okrent dives into these questions."" -- Melissa Mohr, Christian Science Monitor""The book has so many virtues it's hard to know where to start."" -- Orin Hargraves, Visual Thesaurus""[Okrent's] careful tracing of the steps that brought the language to the way it is now builds a picture of social and historical factors as much as linguistic ones. She provides a sense of order in the chaos It is a delight to see the way this unruly system quietly gets on, doing its job of allowing us to communicate. Okrent's experience in linguistic communication allows her to explain even technical concepts clearly."" - Laura R. Bailey, Times Literary Supplement ""[A] learned and captivating study of how the weirdness of our language unfolded....[Okrent] wields sharp and powerful tools that satisfyingly scratch our linguaphilic itch."" -- Michael M. Rosen, National Review"

Author Information

Arika Okrent is a linguist and author of In the Land of Invented Languages. She worked in a brain research lab on her way to a Psycholinguistics PhD from the University of Chicago, and now writes about language for various publications including Mental Floss, The Week, Smithsonian Magazine, Popular Science, Slate, and Aeon. Sean O'Neill is an illustrator and writer living in Chicago. He is the creator of the Rocket Robinson series of graphic novels for young readers. Arika and Sean are also known for their series of live-drawing whiteboard videos on language and other topics, produced by mentalfloss.com.

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