The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words

The Word a Day eMail and newsletter are welcome deliveries into my inbox. The two previous Word a Day books are already on my bookshelf, and when I heard about this one, I had to have it as well.

This book is a delightful collection of some of the lives and origins of words. Why, I wonder, is the word `prepone' in everyday use in India, but not elsewhere? Most of us have had meetings either preponed or postponed but few of us used preponed instead of `brought forward'.

My personal favourite word in this collection (today, anyway) is `resistentialism'. This is the theory that inanimate objects demonstrate hostile behaviour towards us. A theory? No, I think it is irrefutably true.

As I browse through the book, I see some old favourites such as `oleaginous'. If I was a musician, I would undoubtedly be aware that a hemidemisemiquaver describes an eighth of a quaver.

There are some neat little puzzles in the book as well: What is the only state in the USA that has the whole USA in it?

If you enjoy the wonderful world of words, you may wish to make space for this book on your bookshelf.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

I bought this as a present but I peeked at it before wrapping. Then I wanted it for myself. It's fun and covers very unusual words.

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"This book is a collection of stories behind words. It is not meant to be a comprehensive treatise on the origin of words; rather, it presents a selection of some of the most fascinating stories behind words."

The above is found in the introduction to this intriguing, slim anthology of entertaining etymology by Anu Garg, creator of "A word A Day" Internet site. Over 250 words, (names, and terms) have their origins explored, both common words and not-so-common words. As well, the quotation that titles this review is completely accurate--nothing compares to the drama of words.

Here's a sample of some of this book's chapter titles along with a sampling of a few words etc. whose origins are explored:

(1) Tasty words: baker's dozen, trencherman, julienne, frankenfood
(2) People who became words: Annie Oakley, Ponzi scheme, Goldwynism, Xanthippe
(3) Fictional characters who came alive (through words): Boniface, sad sack, Sherlock, zelig, mitty
(4) Places that became words: Spartan, Corinthian, Neanderthal, New York minute
(5) It's all a myth: tantalize, apollonian, phoenix, dragon's teeth

Peppered throughout the book are 77 puzzles or trivia questions about words. Examples include:

(1) What's a synonym of the word synonym?
(2) What letter of the alphabet is the dog's letter?
(3) What word becomes shorter when two letters are added to it?
(4) What's the only number that has as many letters in its spelling as its value?
(5) What word begins with a "t," ends with a "t," and is full of T?

Finally, the only problem I had with this book is that the phonetic spelling of the words (to aid in pronunciation) are not indicated. For the more common words, this is no problem. However, for the not-so-common words, I would have liked to have known how to properly pronounce them.

In conclusion, this book is definitely "an ideal way to have fun while getting smarter."

(first published late 2007; introduction; 17 chapters; main narrative 170 pages; answers to puzzles; acknowledgements; index)

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If you're a word nerd or a language lover, this is the book for you. I was searching for a birthday present for a linguaphile friend of mine, and decided that this would be a pretty good purchase. Boy, was I wrong -- it was a great purchase! I found myself reading through the chapters, picking up all kinds of useful knowledge like the origin of the word "cappuccino" (it's pretty interesting, and I won't spoil it for you). Seriously, this is a fun and interesting book on word origins and I highly recommend it. I'm willing to bet that Garg's other books are also great, and I can't wait to check them out.

I was a little disappointed in the size of the volume. Lots of fun and interesting words for any lexicology fan, but not enough to make it a worthwhile purchasing value. The author's daily words from his website made me want to buy this, but from now on I'll just wait for his daily post.