Why
is “abbreviation” such a long word?
Why
is “lisp” so hard to say if you have one?
How
can being “blunt” result in a cutting remark?
These
are the things Londoner Teresa Monachino wonders aloud in her book, Words Fail Me, a visually appealing peek at the irregularities, challenges
and conflicts of the English language.
It’s a wonderfully packaged short, small book from Phaidon.
“English
hoodwinks us into believing one thing while concealing something quite
different. All is not what it seems," writes Monachino.
She
notes the oddities and quirks of our language in a clear and catchy way.
She
wonders why palindrome is not one. She
questions why monosyllabic has five syllables.
She wonders how verb can be a noun. She wonders how the anagram of
funeral could spell out real fun.
Here’s
her best one: “While there are many cases
where a double negative conveys a positive, there is no case where a double
positive conveys a negative. Yeah,
right.”
Honestly
could become “on the sly,” astronomers becomes “no more stars,” and
violence is “nice love.”
Monachino also notes how we use redundancy for emphasis, such as unexpected surprise, free gift, frozen ice, and past experience.
She also shows how one letter can make a contradictory difference to a word. Behold:
Monachino also notes how we use redundancy for emphasis, such as unexpected surprise, free gift, frozen ice, and past experience.
She also shows how one letter can make a contradictory difference to a word. Behold:
Whole
Slaughter
Twit
She
also notes how some words are made up of two unrelated words that, when
hyphenated due to where they land on a page, sound revealing. For instance:
“The
ad agency said that they would beg-
in
their new campaign.”
or “Working
with you regularly, either in an individual session or within a group, the-
rapists
are available either in hospitals or offices, providing treatment for people of
all ages whose functioning is impaired.”
Words Fail Me show us that
words never fail to entertain and perplex us.
Enjoy it at your own peril -- and delight.
Check These Recent Posts
How you should use micromedia to promote your book
Why is any book a real good beach read?
Celebrate Curiosity Day with your books by getting into trouble
Why is a book a good beach read?
An interview With The Co-writer of Who Framed Roger Rabbit On A
New Book
Did
you see another 36 amazing book quotes?
Whatever
happened to The Great Books?
Gutenberg:
How one man remade the world with letters
Is it
time to deposit your book in the garbage?
A
wonderful, short history of the printed word
2016
Book Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkit
2015
Book Marketing & PR Toolkit
2014
Book Marketing & PR Toolkit
Book
Marketing & Book PR Toolkit: 2013
Brian
Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and
not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email
him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in
the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2016 ©.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.