Word Spy: The Word Lover's Guide to Modern Culture (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Longtime wordsmith McFedries, author of more than 40 books on language, believes that new words are one of life's "small excellencies." Neologisms, he asserts, are one of the best ways of understanding a changing world and culture. For McFedries' purposes, a word is considered "new" if it doesn't appear in any general dictionary, first appeared in the written record no earlier than 1980, and has a track record. Although he does fudge his criteria, he offers many informative comments about why and how new words are formed, noting three essential factors: the word is easy to pronounce and understand, is short, and fills a gap in the language. In 22 chapters, McFedries lists new words in boldface and provides definitions and cultural context; chapter topics include relationships ("Google dating"), war ("threat fatigue"), marketing ("advertainment"), business ("dotcom-uppance"), and angst ("niche worrying"). Thanks to the Internet, new words are being coined and disseminated at lightning speed, and McFedries proves to be a knowledgeable guide to the "neological frenzy." Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Essential reading for the lexicurious--Word Spy explains not just the newest words but the newest ideas."
-Erin McKean, lexicographer and author of Weird and Wonderful Words

"Paul McFedrie's obvious passion for tracking down cutting-edge expressions had led to a fascinating linguistic commentary for those of us who ought to know a 'leather spinster' from a 'weddingmoon.' He opens the reader's eyes and ears to a new language that continues to emerge."
-Jeffrey Kacirk, author of Forgotten English and The Word Museum.

"Word Spy is a triumph--a joyful romp through language and lingo of our times. Today's readers will love it. Tomorrow's readers will need it. So here's a message to the archaeologists of the future: Please dust off this book and read every page. It is your starting point for deciphering what life was like in the 21st century."
? Daniel H. Pink, author of Free Agent Nation

"Tired of finding dead words embalmed in dusty dictionaries? Word Spy is one of those rare books that captures words live in the wild, complete with up-to-the minute citations and examples of usage. Glurge, metrosexual, toxic bachelor, bozo explosion, flash mob, weapons of mass distraction--they are all here, complete with origin, usage, and great quotations. Like Eric Raymond's New Hacker's Dictionary, Word Spy is living proof that to invent a language is to invent a way of life."
? Richard Dooling, author of White Man's Grave -- Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (February 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076791466X
• ISBN-13: 978-0767914666
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,032,217 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Times: McJobs, dot-bombs and cell yell, March 7, 2004

By	Celia Redmore "Celia Redmore" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After nine years of hosting one of the most popular websites on neologisms - words which have entered our vocabularies, but not yet our dictionaries -- Paul McFedries has written a tourist's guide to modern society using new words as signposts.

What better indication is there of what is important to us than the new words we create? We live in a world that is more stressed ("road rage", "postal"), older ("boomeritis", "silver ceiling"), and self-consciously materialistic ("metrosexual", "McMansion"). We are also a generation which has incorporated such words of war and destruction as "weapons-grade" into our everyday vocabulary. No wonder some of us are "downsizing", moving "off-the-grid" and reading "comfort books".

Paul McFedries is a self-proclaimed "neologophiliac". What he really loves, like H L Mencken, is: "the biology of language, as opposed to its paleantology". Best of all, he is able to express that "irrational exhuberance" in language that is funny and light.

There are regular additions to McFedries' collection of new words on http://www.wordspy.com/ .

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tracking the evolution of language, with wit and flair, January 20, 2008

By	David M. Giltinan (San Francisco) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

For anyone interested in the evolution of language, in particular, with an interest in tracking new words as they enter into the language, Paul McFedries' Wordspy site is an indispensable resource:

[...]

This "book from the site" is hilarious, informative, and entertaining. I highly recommend it.

* multishirking : doing two or more non--work-related tasks at once (e.g. surfing the net while making a personal phone call)
* lactivist : an activist who promotes breastfeeding over use of infant formula
* floordrobe (noun): A pile of discarded clothes on the floor of a person's room.
*carbage (noun): the accumulated garbage, papers, and other assorted detritus that litters one's car after a road trip.

My favorite part was McFedries's discussion of various prefixes (cyber, info, net, e-, techno, eco, bio, Franken, Mc, spokes, meta-,uber) and suffixes (gate, ware, -free, -holic, -ista, meister, a-palooza, -erati, -tainment, -zilla).

A terrifically entertaining book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great lingui-porn -- not your father's dictionary!, November 1, 2005

By	Michael K. Smith (Gonzales, Louisiana) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This nifty little volume is proof that the English language is not only alive, it's kicking butt and taking names. Language junkies are familiar with the author's several dozen books and probably his website and maillist, too (for which he slips in a couple of plugs, but that's okay). What he's interesting in here is the invention (or the organic rise, perhaps) of new words by all parts of society, from teen slang that mostly lasts two weeks to techie terms that have rooted themselves firmly in the wider culture, like "dot-com" or the verb "to google." He avoids stunt words (deliberate cleverness by some writer) and nonce words (which appear only once and die immediately). None of his examples existed before c.1980, and all have established a track record by appearing in a variety of public media. (He's aware of Sniglets, incidently, but points out that not one of those introduced by Rich Hall has actually entered the language.) Some new words are so obvious and so apt once you've heard them, you can't believe no one ever thought of them before. (He describes S. J. Perelman's delight when a mechanic told him his car had been "totaled.") The chapters are organized by source or context -- modern angst, modern politics and war, activism of all flavors, political correctness (itself an apt and sneering recent invention), advertising, the Internet revolution, pop psychology, baby-boom-ism, privacy and security (not to forget 9/11, now an overused shorthand), and even "Dilbert." He gives examples of usage from the media, too, some of which are a hoot. Still, there are gaps in the language for which no word has yet appeared, like a reasonable term for each other by adults who regularly go on dates ("Boyfriend" and "girlfriend" are a bit silly when you're over forty). This book is a great time-sink (that's in here, too), both fun and informative.