WHAT IN THE WORD?

By Charles Harrington Elster. A treasure trove of literary trivia and fascinating facts about the English language and its uses and abuses. Drawing on esoteric sources from Appalachia to zydeco, the book covers topics including word and phrase origins (skosh), slang (grok), style ("What’s the past tense of cheerlead?"), punctuation, and pronunciation ("How did colonel come to be pronounced like kernel?"). Each chapter features original brainteasers and challenging puzzles for the reader to enjoy while learning. "Ek-STROR-di-ner-ee. The best survey of the spoken field in years"-William Safire, The New York Times Magazine. Grades 9 and up. Index. Sources. Harcourt. 286 pages. ©2005.

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