Remarkable Twists and Turns of English Words
Our everyday language is full of surprises;
its origins are stranger than you might think.
Any word might be knocked and buffeted, subjected to twists and turns, expansions and contractions, happy and unhappy accidents. There are intriguing tales behind even the most familiar terms, and they can say as much about the present as they do the past.
Busking, for instance, originally meant piracy. Grin meant to snarl. A bimbo was a man; nice meant ignorant; glamor was magic, and a cupboard was a table. Buxom used to mean obedient; a cloud was a rock; raunchy originally meant dirty.
Focusing on one hundred surprising threads in the evolution of English, The Accidental Dictionary reveals the etymological origins and quirky developments that have led to the meanings we take for granted today. It is a weird and wonderful journey into words.
So, let's revel in its randomness and delight in its diversity—our dictionary is indeed accidental.
The language itself is a constantly shifting, changing thing, so any guidebook to it also reflects those shifts and changes ― and over time, the book itself must be edited and re-edited to reflect an evolving linguistic reality.
That’s the premise of The Accidental Dictionary, writer and etymologist Paul Anthony Jones’ latest book. (Jones, who runs the @HaggardHawks Twitter account and blog, has written several engaging books about etymological curiosities over the past few years.) “Under scrutiny,” writes Jones in the introduction, “the dictionary reveals an unpredictable network of etymological crossed paths, U-turns, and forks in the road.” The Accidental Dictionary takes the form of a dictionary ― a 100-word dictionary ― and adds that scrutiny, revealing the many lives each word has lived.
In an interview with HuffPost, Paul Anthony Jones spoke about our changing language in the age of the internet, the patchwork foundation of modern English, and some of his favorite odd etymologies. How did we get here?
Read Full Article by Claire Fallon
Our everyday language is full of surprises;
its origins are stranger than you might think.
Any word might be knocked and buffeted, subjected to twists and turns, expansions and contractions, happy and unhappy accidents. There are intriguing tales behind even the most familiar terms, and they can say as much about the present as they do the past.
Busking, for instance, originally meant piracy. Grin meant to snarl. A bimbo was a man; nice meant ignorant; glamor was magic, and a cupboard was a table. Buxom used to mean obedient; a cloud was a rock; raunchy originally meant dirty.
Focusing on one hundred surprising threads in the evolution of English, The Accidental Dictionary reveals the etymological origins and quirky developments that have led to the meanings we take for granted today. It is a weird and wonderful journey into words.
So, let's revel in its randomness and delight in its diversity—our dictionary is indeed accidental.
The language itself is a constantly shifting, changing thing, so any guidebook to it also reflects those shifts and changes ― and over time, the book itself must be edited and re-edited to reflect an evolving linguistic reality.
That’s the premise of The Accidental Dictionary, writer and etymologist Paul Anthony Jones’ latest book. (Jones, who runs the @HaggardHawks Twitter account and blog, has written several engaging books about etymological curiosities over the past few years.) “Under scrutiny,” writes Jones in the introduction, “the dictionary reveals an unpredictable network of etymological crossed paths, U-turns, and forks in the road.” The Accidental Dictionary takes the form of a dictionary ― a 100-word dictionary ― and adds that scrutiny, revealing the many lives each word has lived.
In an interview with HuffPost, Paul Anthony Jones spoke about our changing language in the age of the internet, the patchwork foundation of modern English, and some of his favorite odd etymologies. How did we get here?
Read Full Article by Claire Fallon
Paul Anthony Jones
Welcome to the website for writer and language blogger Paul Anthony Jones, author of word origins guide 'Haggard Hawks & Paltry Poltroons'.
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