Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you love language and cherish your own rich and interesting vocabulary, you've got to read this book ! It is full of fascinating, odd and wonderful words, that you may be able to work into a sentence or two, or maybe even a conversation.

In a world in which words are shrinking, and where text-messaging is creating a whole new vocabulary of non-words, this book is a breath of fresh air.

If you love words and their origins, you will love this book !

Most people rarely learn a new word after they pass their last vocabulary test in school. That's a shame. Words and their origins can be the source of a lot of fun. Anu Garg makes that point obvious in The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two by providing clever word puzzles and word histories filled with fascinating details, humor, and irony. If you can't get enough after you read the book, subscribe to Garg's online weekly newsletter.

Let me give you two samples of the book:

1. "Orthographically speaking, what do the two countries Afghanistan and Tuvalu have in common?" (Hint: Look closely.)

2. "Dord: The word density had a short-lived synonym: dord . . . While the second edition of Webster's New International Dictionary was under way, an editor received an entry 'D or d,' which was defined as density, where the uppercase D and the lowercase d were abbreviations for the word density. The editor conflated the letters as dord and a new word was born."

The material is organized around themes into chapters with the quiz questions inserted to keep you awake. Entries are short so this is a good book to read when you just have a few minutes to spare. I read it while waiting for my car to be aligned, and the car guys were wondering what was so funny.

An on-going theme is the mobility of language as meanings grow, shift, and sometimes even become their polar opposites. I was particularly intrigued by the many mechanisms by which the real world turns into fiction and words and fiction creates new words with precise story-defined meanings.

Anu Garg has a sense of humor and a love of words that's contagious. This book would be a great gift for a youngster who is at that age where he or she would like to learn words that would puzzle others (the chapter on obscure insult words that people won't know are insulting would appeal to many a 13 year-old).

I actually was inspired by the many references to Dickens to want to read some of his books that I haven't read. Perhaps you will be, too.

The book also has an index that allows you to easily look up the word that intrigues you from its very appearance or sound (such as Throttlebottom perhaps).

Enjoy a Cook's tour of the English language while picking up amusing furphy during the nychthemeron it will take you to read this book!

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.

This one should sit on the top of the john. It is amusing, informative, and something you can browse through with ease. Perplexing at times, but fully readable fun.

XXXXX

"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)

<<Stephen Pletko, London, Ontario, Canada>>

XXXXX

As a long time reader of AWAD, I thought I knew what to expect. The first sections were simpler than the daily offerings. Then he seemed to concentrate on finding items which "will be good for my new book". Let's put it this way. Each week there is a roundup of reader comments on the words of the week in AWAD. They are intelligent, interesting, insightful and of astonishing variety, a feast for the lexofilos. Something tells me this group will find this little book something of a letdown. But if the new book can bring more people into the world of words, it's good. We need all the help we can get in the land of lexopenia.

This booklet is a source of endless delight for those who love learning the meaning and origin of new words .
Thanks, Anu Garg

Pedro Solberg
Rio de Janeiro,Brazil

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

This was given as a gift and passed around at Christmas. Everyone who took a look enjoyed it and the recipient has mentioned several times how much he likes it.
For people who enjoy words it is a must!

Dord, Diglot, and Avocado are all words with very interesting origins. The title sets the stage for the whole book.
I found it to be a spellbinder.