The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten (Paperback)

by Jeffrey Kacirk (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Kacirk has written a new book on the same theme as his last book, Forgotten English, gathering hundreds of words that have slipped from common usage. By searching old dictionaries and glossaries, he has compiled words that appeal to him based on their sound (although there is no pronunciation guide), show either endearing or humorous aspects of their times, or illustrate customs. The result is this lark of a book, sure to appeal to all who love words and the sounds they make. In this Aladdin's cave of vocabulary are words like "bouffage" (very satisfying), "ugsumness" (terribleness), "snirp" (shrink), and "maffle" (stutter). The work may be of use to academic libraries where there is strong interest in lexicography, for, in addition to the words and definitions, there is a lengthy bibliography. For public libraries, the use will mainly be in the pleasure of browsing and looking at the many period illustrations. Recommended where there is a perceived need.DNeal Wyatt, Chesterfield P.L., VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Justin Kaplan and Anne Bernays authors of The Language of Names It's an absolutely delicious book, a ten-course banquet for anyone with an appetite for words, dictionary games, and just plain fun. -- Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Later Printing edition (September 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684857618
• ISBN-13: 978-0684857619
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #128,155 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthy successor to "Forgotten English", December 21, 2000

By	Ed Brickell (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews

Kacirk once again delves into the dusty attics and musty cellars of the English language and comes up with hundreds more antiquated words to amuse and enlighten you. The only disappointment for me is that he doesn't delve at length into the curious folklore surrounding each word and its origins, unlike his first book, "Forgotten English." However, you're given enough interesting factoids to chew on, and are further compensated by the fact that less folklore leaves more room for more oddball words!

A must for any avid reader, writer, or anyone interested in the history of the English language.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Faffle About It, March 6, 2003

By	A.Trendl HungarianBookstore.com "RIP MJ" (Glen Ellyn, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Jeffrey Kacirk dedicates "The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Ever Forgotten" to Lewis Carroll because of the delectable verbiage introduced in "Jabberwocky." This seems right, as Kacirk's choice of words here are as fun, unique and rarely use Carroll's.

This is not an etymological study, but an comfortable overview of antiquated words.

He start off with 'abbey-lubber,' which is a pretentious loiterer in a religious house. I am unsure how I'll tastefully work this into a sentence next Sunday at church, but I am glad to have such a word in my quiver should the occasion arise.

Don't dismay if, while reading this, you feel you are seeing words new to you. Most of these words haven't escaped rare book rooms in 200 years. For example, we prefer, 'librarian' over 'bibliothecary' and children tend to choose 'sleepy' instead of 'Billy-wink.'

As Kacirk defines words, he slips in a number of woodcut illustrations, adding to the appeal. They are always somehow correlated with a word on that page.

Grab a glass of something cold, and thoughtfully stroke your 'ziff' (beard) while reading this in a 'zypthesary' (brewhouse). It may be 'faffle' (work occupied requiring much labor with non-commensurate results), but maybe not.

I enjoyed "The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Ever Forgotten" by Jeffrey Kacirk.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Far far less than it could have or should have been, January 19, 2002

By	S. Lawrenz "Lendorien" (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Jeffrey Kacirk's "The Word Museum" piqued my interest just by its basic promise, a book about words and their antiquated meanings. It sounds like a very good idea.

Unfortunately, Kacirk botched the execution of it and what resulted was a very subpar and mostly uninteresting collection of word definitions. That's it, just definitions. The worst part is, usage dates (dates the words might have been in use) contextual quotes and word origins weren't even included.

Well, actually, usage dates were included, by way of the name of an author who used it, that you had to go and look up in a glossary at the back of the book. Talk about unnecessarily cludgy and annoying.

Ok, the origin of words is a bit complex to research for a book, but the other two shouldn't have been that difficult. Had Kacirk actually put the usage dates along with the definitions, and included a contextual quote (most of the authors were before 1900 so copyrights wouldn't be an issue), this book would have been far more interesting and worth spending money on.