1983, ISBN: 9780198692928
Why is "f" used instead of "s" in old-fashioned writing and printing? What does "corned" mean in "corned beef?" How many words are there in the English language? Is the correct plural of … More...
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2003, ISBN: 9780198692928
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1996, ISBN: 0198692927
[EAN: 9780198692928], [SC: 0.0], [PU: Oxford University Press], Befriedigend/Good: Durchschnittlich erhaltenes Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit Gebrauchsspuren, aber vollständigen Seiten. / D… More...
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1996, ISBN: 9780198692928
Oxford University Press, USA, 1996-03-28. Paperback. Used:Good., Oxford University Press, USA, 1996-03-28, 0
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1996, ISBN: 0198692927
[EAN: 9780198692928], Gebraucht, guter Zustand, [PU: Oxford University Press, USA], Books
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1983, ISBN: 9780198692928
Why is "f" used instead of "s" in old-fashioned writing and printing? What does "corned" mean in "corned beef?" How many words are there in the English language? Is the correct plural of … More...
2003, ISBN: 9780198692928
Paperback, Gebraucht, guter Zustand, Simply Brit – welcome to our online used book store, where affordability meets great quality. Dive into a world of captivating reads without breaking … More...
1996
ISBN: 0198692927
[EAN: 9780198692928], [SC: 0.0], [PU: Oxford University Press], Befriedigend/Good: Durchschnittlich erhaltenes Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit Gebrauchsspuren, aber vollständigen Seiten. / D… More...
1996, ISBN: 9780198692928
Oxford University Press, USA, 1996-03-28. Paperback. Used:Good., Oxford University Press, USA, 1996-03-28, 0
1996, ISBN: 0198692927
[EAN: 9780198692928], Gebraucht, guter Zustand, [PU: Oxford University Press, USA], Books
Bibliographic data of the best matching book
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In Questions of English, Jeremy Marshall and Mrs. Fred McDonald have gathered some of the most curious and enlightening questions that OWLS has fielded, in a volume that will fascinate word lovers everywhere. The topics range from the mundane to the exotic, from common questions of punctuation or pronunciation (why, for instance, is the River Thames pronounced temz?), to queries about bizarre words and neologisms (such as "nephelococcygeal," which means "of or related to Cloud-Cuckoo-Land"). Logophiles are in their element here, with fascinating discussions of obscure words as well as intriguing facts about the familiar. We learn, for instance, that the political term "Tory" was originally an insulting nickname (probably related to the Irish word for thief), as were the terms "Whig," "Quaker," and "Methodist." The editors tell us that the word "gopher" comes from the French gaufre or "honeycomb" (because the gopher's burrows honeycombed the ground) and that "zimbabwe" is an African word meaning "walled grave," a name given to the numerous ruined medieval settlements found in the state of Zimbabwe. And we discover that the plural of "octopus" should perhaps be "octopodes" ("octopi" comes from the mistaken idea that "octopus" is a Latin word; it's actually a Latinized form of the Greek oktopous, whose plural is oktopodes), but either "octopi" or "octopuses" are considered correct. In addition, the Owls puzzle over many spurious etymologies, such as for the words "posh" (which probably does not stand for "Port Out Starboard Home"), "quiz," "snob," or "OK," and they provide a brief discussion of British and American English, which covers pronunciation (we say tomado, they say tomato), spelling, and vocabulary (in America, "mean" means "nasty," while in Britain it means "cheap").
A joy for any lover of language, Questions of English brings the language to life with bright and often irreverent style. It is a browser's goldmine, packed with fascinating and useful facts about our native tongue.
Details of the book - Questions of English
EAN (ISBN-13): 9780198692928
ISBN (ISBN-10): 0198692927
Paperback
Publishing year: 1983
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book in our database since 2007-04-08T14:18:12-04:00 (New York)
Detail page last modified on 2024-02-27T11:40:13-05:00 (New York)
ISBN/EAN: 9780198692928
ISBN - alternate spelling:
0-19-869292-7, 978-0-19-869292-8
Alternate spelling and related search-keywords:
Book author: mcdonald
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