Customer Reviews

There's a Word for It!: A Grandiloquent Guide to Life

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It must be said that if you are looking for a serious reference book to boost a lacking vocabulary, look elsewhere. Using Mr Elster's words may earn you some extremely strange looks. But for those among us who are non-scopophobic and thrive on strange looks, as well as those of us who love the English language, this book should provide endless cachinnation. The blend of true words and nonce-words created from various prefixes and suffixes may at times aggravate those who want to be sure, but how could a real logomaniac be angry with that? Those nonce-words, when they become real, are reminders of exactly how great are the possibilities of this language.

A remarkable book for anyone who loves words and enjoys reading about them. The point is not to learn new words (a point which may have eluded some reviewers) but to bask in the joy of arcane and long-lost terms or bizarre coinages. It is indeed 'grandiloquent' as advertised - a slightly pretentious and more than slightly off-kilter look at the weirdest the English language has to offer.

A verbivore's delight! If you are a collector of unusual, obscure and fanciful language, this delightful literati gem will take you on a well-organized journey of fabulous, flavorful and forgotten words with a historical perspective and clever samples of usage.

While this book is not in a format which would allow the reader to find a specific word for something he/she is trying to express, it is full of many uncommon and delightful words. I recommend it only as an influence for those willing to learn new words.

A person often takes a chance when ordering a book based primarily on a title. Even based on friends' recommendations, ordering a book you know little about is an iffy proposition. This book is like that. It sounds like a book for building your speaking and writing vocabulary. It is not. Neither is it exhaustive. It is just plain fun. If you enjoy unusual words and like to play with language, this will give you plenty of material.

This is not, as you might hope, a list of mildly exotic words that you could add to season your speech with precision and interest. Rather it is a collection of esoteric and obsolete words so obscure that no one without a dictionary (or even with many dictionaries) will be able to understand them.

This reference comes in handy when looking for brainteasers as there are many to stump any student of english from novice to expert.

I have never given a one-star rating to a book before, but this book is EXTREMELY bad. If you think this book will help you get specific, eloquent words for you to use, think again! It is just full of boring stories which contain "grandiloquent" words. The author tries to make his stories funny and amusing, but they are a BORE! Save your money and your time.