| Description |
xxi, 260 pages : illustrations ; 18 cm |
| Note |
Includes index. |
| Contents |
1. Roe : the first word (5th century) -- 2. Lea : naming places (8th century) -- 3. And : an early abbreviation (8th century) -- 4. Loaf : an unexpected origin (9th century) -- 5. Out : changing grammar (9th century) -- 6. Street : a Latin loan (9th century) -- 7. Mead : a window into history (9th century) -- 8. Merry : a dialect survivor (9th century) -- 9. Riddle : playing with language (10th century) : 10. What -- an early exclamation (10th century) -- 11. Bone-house : a word-painting (10th century) -- 12. Brock : a Celtic arrival (10th century) -- 13. English : the language named (10th century) -- 14. Bridegroom : a popular etymology (11th century) -- 15. Arse : an impolite word (11th century) -- 16. Swain : a poetic expression (12th century) -- 17. Pork : an elegant word (13th century) -- 18. Chattels : a legal word (13th century) -- 19. Dame : a form of address (13th century) -- 20. Skirt : a word doublet (13th century) -- 21. Jail : competing words (13th century) -- 22. Take away : a phrasal verb (13th century) -- 23. Cuckoo : a sound-symbolic word (13th century) -- 24. Cunt : a taboo word (13th century) -- 25. Wicked : a radical alteration (13th century) -- 26. Wee : a Scottish contribution (14th century) -- 27. Grammar : a surprising link (14th century) -- 28. Valentine : first name into word (14th century) -- 29. Egg : a dialect choice (14th century) -- 30. Royal : word triplets (14th century) -- 31. Money : a productive idiom (14th century) -- 32. Music : a spelling in evolution (14th century) -- 33. Taffeta : an early trade word (14th century) -- 34. Information(s) : (un)countable nouns (14th century) -- 35. Gaggle : a collective noun (15th century) -- 36. Doable : a mixing of languages (15th century) -- 37. Matrix : a word from Tyndale (16th century) -- 38. Alphabet : talking about writing (16th century) -- 39. Potato : a European import (16th century) -- 40. Debt : a spelling reform (16th century) -- 41. Ink-horn : a classical flood (16th century) -- 42. Dialect : regional variation (16th century) -- 43. Bodgery : word-coiners (16th century) -- 44. Undeaf : a word from Shakespeare (16th century) -- 45. Skunk : an early Americanism (17th century) -- 46. Shibboleth : a word from King James (17th century) -- 47. Bloody : an emerging swear-word (17th century) -- 48. Lakh : a word from India (17th century) -- 49. Fopdoodle : a lost word (17th century) -- 50. Billion : a confusing ambiguity (17th century) -- 51. Yogurt : a choice of spelling (17th century) -- 52. Gazette : a taste of journalese (17th century) -- 53. Tea : a social word (17th century) -- 54. Disinterested : a confusible (17th century) -- 55. Polite : a matter of manners (17th century) -- 56. Dilly-dally : a reduplicating word (17th century) -- 57. Rep : a clipping (17th century) -- 58. Americanism : a new nation (18th century) -- 59. Edit : a back-formation (18th century) -- 60. Species : classifying things (18th century) -- 61. Ain't : right and wrong (18th century) -- 62. Trek : a word from Africa (19th century) -- 63. Hello : progress through technology (19th century) -- 64. Dragsman : thieves' cant (19th century) -- 65. Lunch : U or non-U (19th century) -- 66. Dude : a cool usage (19th century) -- 67. Brunch : a portmanteau word (19th century) -- 68. Dinkum : a word from Australia (19th century) -- 69. Mipela : pidgin English (19th century) -- 70. Schmooze : a Yiddishism (19th century) -- 71. OK : debatable origins (19th century) -- 72. Ology : suffix into word (19th century) -- 73. Y'all : a new pronoun (19th century) -- 74. Speech-craft : an Anglo-Saxonism (19th century) -- 75. DNA : scientific terminology (20th century) -- 76. Garage : a pronunciation problem (20th century) -- 77. Escalator : word into name into word (20th century) -- 78. Robot : a global journey (20th century) -- 79. UFO : alternative forms (20th century) -- 80. Watergate : place-name into word (20th century) -- 81. Doublespeak : weasel words -- 82. Doobry : useful nonsense (20th century) -- 83. Blurb : a moment of arrival (20th century) -- 84. Strine : a comic effect (20th century) -- 85. Alzheimer's : surname into word (20th century) -- 86. Grand : money slang (20th century) -- 87. Mega : prefix into word (20th century) -- 88. Gotcha : a non-standard spelling (20th century) -- 89. PC : being politically correct (20th century) -- 90. Bagonise : a nonce-word (20th century) -- 91. Webzine : an internet compound (20th century) -- 92. App : a killer abb (20th century) -- 93. Cherry-picking : corporate speak (20th century) -- 94. LOL : netspeak (20th century) -- 95. Jazz : word of the century (20th century) -- 96. Sudoku : a modern loan (21st century) -- 97. Muggle : a fiction word (21st century) -- 98: Chillax : a fashionable blend (21st century) -- 99. Unfriend : a new age (21st century) -- 100. Twittersphere : future directions? (21st century). |
| Summary |
The world's foremost expert on the English language takes us on an entertaining and eye-opening tour of the history of our vernacular through the ages. |
| Subject |
English language -- Etymology.
|
|
English language -- Foreign elements.
|
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English language -- Foreign words and phrases.
|
| Added Title |
Story of English in one hundred words |
|
Story of English in a hundred words |
| ISBN |
9781250024206 |
|
125002420X |
|
