This lively and informative new title was originally inspired by the author's Italian mother and her struggles with the vagaries of the English language. Over the years the author has tried to correct her attempts and explain why the word she has chosen is incorrect, only to be baffled herself by the lack of logic within those explanations. English is full of contradictions and peculiarities (not counting such dull grammatical inconsistencies as 'i before e except after c', which are really no fun at all) and hoodwinks us into believing one thing while meaning something quite different. In English, all is not what it seems and with this book the author has brought these illogical oddities to the fore. Questions of spelling, pronunciation or the blatantly nonsensical are illustrated through clever visual representations that are created entirely through artfully manipulated typography. This playful and sometimes hilarious text sorts the homonyms from the heteronyms and introduces the 'antigram' (demonstrating how the swift shuffle of certain letters can create words that entirely contradict the first: honestly becomes on the sly, earliest becomes rise late and, fabulously, Elvis = lives!). Monachino goes on to demand an explanation from all those tricky little words that are spelt the same and pronounced the same, but yet have utterly different meanings, while highlighting a few of life's petty pleonasms and showing off some quite excellent tautologies. A gaggle of one-word oxymorons shines the spotlight on words that harbour contradictory words within them and the final section provides a note on inadvisable hyphenation, which is a useful disco-very, but perhaps not the best place to beg-in. Because of the linguistic nature of this title there will be a American English edition.
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
'A book that gently subverts and questions the art of expression...filled with gentle humour and genuinely interesting anachronisms of the English language, all set in Monachino's Immaculate typography.'
About the Author
Teresa Monachino (b.1968) is an award-winning graphic designer and typographer based in London. Her passion for wordplay comes from her Italian mother's hesitant grasp of the English language. For many years Teresa has attempted to explain to her mother why the word she has chosen is incorrect, only to be baffled by the peculiarity and lack of logic in English herself
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intelligent !!!,
By Claudia Moreno "Clo-Clo" (Mexico City, MX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Words Fail Me (Hardcover)
This book will make you smile from beginning to end. The wit throughout the pages is fabulous. As a designer, the simplicity and beauty leaves me astounded, and as a reader, I wish it would go on and on and on...
5.0 out of 5 stars
lovely little book,
By smash "ss" (los angeles, ca) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Words Fail Me (Hardcover)
as a designer and typophile, i love this book. this book is perfect for young (or old) designers that love typography!
3.0 out of 5 stars
Is it an attempt to be like the hit, Watching words move?,
By
This review is from: Words Fail Me (Hardcover)
Easy to go through, pleasant in certain areas, witty in other, funny a couple of times, and makes you think about a thing or two in our daily language that we just take for granted.
You'll finish it within minutes. The pages design and layouts were done in such a way that I felt was very much inspired by the classic book 'watching words move' by Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar. After you're done keep it on your coffee table, it will entertain your guests for sure, at least.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
