Verbatim: From the Bawdy to the Sublime, the Best Writing on Language for Word Lovers, Grammar Mavens, and Armchair Linguists

by Erin McKean

Book Overview

From the bawdy to the sublime, the best writing on language for word lovers, grammar mavens, and armchair linguists. A brilliant, witty, and engaging compendium on the uses and abuses of the English language. With bestselling narratives such as The Professor and the Madman to edicts by popular grammar mavens including Pat O'Conner and Barbara Wallraff, it is clear readers outside of academia are becoming more and more intrigued with language. Founded...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 015601209X
• ISBN13: 9780156012096
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 372 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A lollapalooza for wordlovers

God, I love this book! Where else are you going to find a fascinating exegesis of the use of slang in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a discussion of the specific nuances of language within the S/M community, and a discussion of dirty words down the centuries in a single volume? Buy a copy for yourself and several more for your friends who like to explore the back alleys of language.

So much fun that you'll want to read it quarterly..

A friend of mine, knowing I'm a student of linguistics, lent me this book, and I'm glad she did; it was one of the most fun, yet relaxing, books I've read in some time. The majority of the essays are funny, and those that aren't are at least interesting (though I confess that there were a few of them I simply didn't care for, it was more than made up for by the others.) The format makes it perfect for short bursts of recreation, especially if you just have a bit of time to kill on the bus or while waiting for something.. it's an excellent book to be read in pieces (and would make a good "bathroom book", come to think of it.) Like other reviewers here, I enjoyed this book so much that I decided to subscribe to the periodical, and I would recommend it to linguists, grammarians and anyone else who enjoys language.

A Wonderful Collection of Witty and Fascinating Essays

This book is a fine compilation of the best essays published in the periodical "Verbatim: The Language Quarterly". The book is devoted to celebrating the bizarre aspects of language (mostly concerning English). Most of the essays are humorous in nature, though many of them are educational and eye opening. Topics such as dialects, dictionaries, grammar, jargon, naming, obscenities, and wordplay are covered in great detail. The section on non-English is especially interesting, which explains Japanese onomatopoeia, Spanish dialects and an odd Welsh dictionary. An essential book for linguists, though most people should find this book enjoyable.

Liked it so much I subscribed to the magazine too

I got this book as a Christmas present from my roommate but I didn't start to read it until after Easter. But I'm really glad I did. It was both funny and thought-provoking. There is so much most people don't know about the language we use every day. It was really interesting, and the articles are short and not technical at all so you don't get bogged down.As I read through it I got really into it and was going to give a copy to my Dad for Father's Day. But then there was a whole article (really funny!) about new uses of the f-word and that's not really for parental units...my roommate said her parents loved it, though.However, I liked this book so much that I googled the magazine Verbatim and subscribed!