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New Delhi India
A book for word-lovers
Jan 23, 2008 04:48 PM 1244 Views

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Languages, just as societies, change over time. They are a reflection of the communities which speak them and as communities change, (whether by being invaded and colonised, by technological and scientific progress, by trade or by the many other kinds of human activity), so do languages. New words are coined, existing ones acquire new shades of meaning and some are adopted from other languages.


Over a span of centuries many words with very different meanings might get created from a single word. This book deals with the fascinating stories behind words - some commonplace ones that all of us are familiar e.g. salary(it comes from the Latin word'salarium' which means an allowance for salt) while others are not e.g. accismus(which means feigning lack of interest while actually desiring something). This is the third book by Anu Garg, an Indian former software professional settled in the US. He founded https://wordsmith.org and its very popular email newsletter A Word A Day which consists of a word, its pronunciation, etymology and an example of its usage in a sentence.


This book is a compilation of about 300 of those words and the interesting, enlightening and sometimes funny stories behind them. This is not a dull, academic tome on etymology but an entertaining glimpse into the lives of words and their backgrounds written for the lay person in a simple style with a good helping of humour thrown in.


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Comments on Dord, The Diglot and an Avocado or two - Anu Garg Review

Hi!

That's a short yet well written review! Looks like I may catch up with this!
Cheers
Ramya

By: ajjis | Jan 23, 2008 04:58 PM

hey HO!

its weird how we take for granted the most important things in our life! language and an ability to communicate being one of them!! i have never wondered ki yeh word kahan se aya!

sure looks like an interesting read! a brief...yet interesting review!

keep penning!

cheers!

abha
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By: amateurabe | Jan 23, 2008 05:30 PM

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