What in the Word? : Wordplay, Word Lore, and Answers to Your Peskiest Questions about Language

by Elster, Charles Harrington

• ISBN13: 9780156031974
• ISBN10: 0156031973
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-09-28
• Publisher: Lightning Source Inc

Summary

Are you so sure about "assure," "ensure," and "insure" ? Can you determine whether a knob of butter is equivalent to a lump or a pat or a scosh? Can you say which word in the English language has the most definitions, or who put the H in Jesus H. Christ? If you can't, be assured that Charles Harrington Elster, author of several well-loved works on language, can-and does in his latest book, a delightfully designed compendium of the most common, interesting, and entertaining conundrums in our language. Drawing upon esoteric sources and his own inimitable expertise, Elster uses a lively question-and-answer format to cover a variety of topics-word and phrase origins, slang, style, usage, punctuation, and pronunciation. Every chapter features original brainteasers, challenging puzzles, and a trove of literary trivia.

Author Biography

CHARLES HARRINGTON ELSTER is a writer, broadcaster, and logophile-a lover of words. He is the author of several books, including The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations, Verbal Advantage, and There's a Word for It. He is also a guest contributor to the "On Language" column of the New York Times Magazine. He lives in San Diego.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	xiii
Once Upon a Word	1	(38)
A Slough of Solecisms	39	(36)
The Grandiloquent Gumshoe	75	(42)
The Elegance of Style	117	(50)
A Civil Tongue	167	(32)
Born in the USA	199	(38)
The Wonder of Words	237	(26)
Answers to the Bodacious Brainteasers	263	(6)
Sources Cited	269	(6)
Index	275

Excerpts

Once Upon a WordWord Histories, Mysteries, Hoaxes, and Hype: Sorting the Tall Tales from the TruthBreathes there anyone who has not wondered, from time to time, about the origin of a familiar word or expression? For those of us who are naturally curious about the English language, hardly a day goes by without the question arising: Where does that dadblamed thing come from, anyway?Although words are human creations, few of us know the stories behind them. Most of our discussions about word and phrase origins are limited to speculation. And in these days of instant Internet communciation, when we are bombarded with all manner of linguistic information, some of it trustworthy and much of it not, few of us possess the means to detect the etymological tall tales and hoaxes that circulate in cyberspace.A friend tells you that the word handicapped comes from disabled beggars using their caps to panhandle, another friend asserts that Xmas is insulting to Jesus, and a coworker claims that jiffy is an actual unit of time. Can you believe any of it?You receive an emissive (my proposed word for an email message) from an ostensible authority calling for a boycott of the word picnic because its origin is presumably linked with the lynching of African Americans. Could such a disturbing etymology be true?Another emissive floats in informing you that a certain well-known four-letter word in fact stands for ship high in transit. It seems plausible, but how can you know for sure?Then there are the etymological mysteries that suddenly occur to you as you're going about the business of life. You're eating a corned beef sandwich and you wonder, Why do they call it corned beef? You're minding your p's and q's and it hits you: What the heck are p's and q's? You're watching an old movie when somebody says, "Your goose is cooked," and you think, How in the world did that culinary phrase come to mean "It's curtains for you, buster"?The answers to these, and many other original questions, await you in the following pages.Worm WordsQ. I am going stark raving mad trying to find out where the phrase as the worm turns comes from and what it means. I've searched the Web and scoured my library to no avail. Please help!A. The worm turns comes from an old proverb, "Tread on a worm and it will turn," meaning that even the most defenseless creature will, when sufficiently provoked, attempt to defend itself. Shakespeare used it in Henry VI, where he wrote, "The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on / And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood." Today it usually means that the loser or oppressed party is now (or will become) the victor. The expression usually appears as the worm turns or the worm will turn, not as the worm turns (which strikes me as a confusion with "as the world turns").De GoostibusQ. Criminals are often told by the good guys, Your goose is cooked. What is the origin of this phrase? Is there a historical connection between geese and c

---

Excerpted from What in the Word?: Wordplay, Word Lore, and Answers to Your Peskiest Questions about Language by Charles Harrington Elster
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.