Word Fugitives: In Pursuit of Wanted Words
3/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Despite the many thousands of dictionary words at our disposal, our language can be dismayingly inadequate. How many times have you searched for a word that means just what you want it to but failed to find anything suitable anywhere? Most of us, it turns out, lead lives rife with experiences, people, and things that have no names.
At least, they lacked names until now. Word Fugitives comes to the rescue, supplying hundreds of inspired words coined or redefined to meet everyday needs. For instance, wouldn't it be handy to have a word for the momentary confusion people experience when they hear a cell phone ringing and wonder whether it's theirs? (How about fauxcellarm, phonundrum, or pandephonium?)
Or what about a word for offspring who are adults? (Try unchildren or offsprung.) Or a word for the irrational fear when you're throwing a party that no one will show up? (That might be guestlessness, empty-fest syndrome, or fete-alism.)
This mind- and vocabulary-expanding book grew out -- way out -- of Barbara Wallraff's popular column in The Atlantic Monthly. Brimming with irresistible diversions and pop quizzes; illuminated by contributions and commentary from authors, linguists, and leading language authorities; and enlivened by pleas for help from people whose words have yet to be found, Word Fugitives will captivate and inspire anyone who ever struggles to describe the world that he or she, or they, or thon (thon? see page 141) lives in.
Barbara Wallraff
Barbara Wallraff is a contributing editor at The Atlantic Monthly, where she has worked since 1983. Doing justice to the English language has long been a professional specialty of hers. She has written for the New York Times Magazine's “On Language” column, she is a former commissioner of the Word Police, and National Public Radio's Morning Edition once asked her to copyedit the U.S. Constitution. Her name appears in a Trivial Pursuit question -- but not in the answer. Wallraff is the author of the national best seller Word Court and Your Own Words. She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Read more from Barbara Wallraff
Word Court Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Word Fugitives: In Pursuit of Wanted Words Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to Word Fugitives
Related ebooks
The Dictionary of Clichés: A Word Lover's Guide to 4,000 Overused Phrases and Almost-Pleasing Platitudes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Words Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Expletive Deleted: A Good Look at Bad Language Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Origin of Names, Words and Everything in Between: Volume II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Word In Your Shell-Like Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crazy English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dictionary of Word Origins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wordplay: Arranged and Deranged Wit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lexicographer's Dilemma: The Evolution of 'Proper' English, from Shakespeare to South Park Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Awesome Vocabulary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGift of the Gob: Morsels of English Language History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Curious Phrases Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Highly Selective Thesaurus for the Extraordinarily Literate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Figuratively Speaking: Thesaurus of Expressions &Phrases: Thesaurus of Expressions & Phrases Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secret Life of Words: How English Became English Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Strange Bedfellows: The Private Lives of Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come Again?: Racy Slang, Expletives, and Curses from Around the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Can I Have a Word with You? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLanguage Most Foul Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Metaphors Be With You: An A to Z Dictionary of History's Greatest Metaphorical Quotations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oxymoronica: Paradoxical Wit and Wisdom from History's Greatest Wordsmiths Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Savoir Faire: 1,000+ Foreign Words & Phrases You Should Know to Sound Smart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Watch Your Tongue: What Our Everyday Sayings and Idioms Figuratively Mean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cunning Linguist: Ribald Riddles, Lascivious Limericks, Carnal Corn, and Other Good, Clean Dirty Fun Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Play of Words Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Origin of Names, Words and Everything in Between: (Word Origins, Trivia Book for Adults, Funny Trivia, Origin of Words) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Linguistics For You
So to Speak: 11,000 Expressions That'll Knock Your Socks Off Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations That Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5made in america: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Kind of Creatures Are We? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need: A One-Stop Source for Every Writing Assignment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Essential Chomsky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dictionary of Word Origins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Language: Chomsky's Classic Works: Language and Responsibility and Reflections on Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5500 Beautiful Words You Should Know Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dark Matter of the Mind: The Culturally Articulated Unconscious Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Metaphors We Live By Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths About America's Lingua Franca Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms: American English Idiomatic Expressions & Phrases Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inspired Baby Names from Around the World: 6,000 International Names and the Meaning Behind Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular & the New Land Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Psychology and Manipulation: Psychology, Relationships and Self-Improvement, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rhetoric: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tyranny of Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Origin of Names, Words and Everything in Between Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Origin of Names, Words and Everything in Between: Volume II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWatch Your Tongue: What Our Everyday Sayings and Idioms Figuratively Mean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlappers 2 Rappers: American Youth Slang Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Word Fugitives
11 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fun book! Based on a column in which readers write in to request new words ("there ought to be a word for...") and other readers send in their suggestions for words to add to the language to accommodate the need. My favorite was the word in response to "There ought to be a word for the state of arriving in a room and not being able to recall why you went there": DESTINESIA. That's one I've found plenty of use for already!
The one word that linguists have been wishing for and for which we still haven't found a suitable answer is the gender-neutral third person (instead of the awkward "he or she," "his or hers," etc.). They're still searching! - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A wonderful, light read. Not only does it include her own ideas on needed words, but also those submitted by readers of her column. Some fun fugitive words including: s/he, the feeling when everything goes into slow motion and you can't change it, yakasses, disposable plastic bags caught in trees, newbiquitous, procrastifrigeration.Televisiphonerating is my current media favorite