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Bookish Words & their Surprising Stories
Brief Description
The world of books has played a striking role in the history of English vocabulary. Book itself is one of the oldest words in the language, originating from boc in Old English, and appears in many commonly used expressions today such as by the book, bring...
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Bookish Words & their Surprising Stories
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See moreThis book tells the fascinating stories behind 100 everyday words that have been influenced by writing, reading and publishing books.
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Description
The world of books has played a striking role in the history of English vocabulary. Book itself is one of the oldest words in the language, originating from boc in Old English, and appears in many commonly used expressions today such as by the book, bring to book, and bookworm, to name a few.
With the arrival of printing, typesetting, and the development of the newspaper industry came terminology that evolved into commonly used phrases such as stop the press, front-page news, and hit the headlines. The emergence of the internet has generated even more such expressions.
Bookish Words & their Surprising Stories presents a selection of more than 100 words which demonstrate the influence of writing, reading, and publishing books on our everyday vocabulary over the centuries. The book tells the stories behind their linguistic origins and uncovers some surprising twists in the development of their meaning through time.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781851246519
Publisher: Bodleian Library
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 10 April 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Bodleian Library
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 118.0mm
Height: 184.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 160
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About the Author
David Crystal is a writer, editor, lecturer and broadcaster on language, and honorary professor of linguistics at Bangor University. His many books include The Cambridge Encyclopedia of English Language (CUP 3rd edn, 2019) and A Date with Language (Bodleian Library 2023). He lives online at www.davidcrystal.com.
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