Unfortunate English: The Gloomy Truth Behind the Words You Use

by Bill Brohaugh

Book Overview

'Unfortunate English' contains humorous and accessible etymology for words with grisly backgrounds. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582974438
• ISBN13: 9781582974439
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

bo

enjoyable, entertaining, educational. wow, do all those words violate parallel construction right off the bat? but they are alliterative. as you can tell, i am neither english major, nor writer. however, i enjoyed the book. however( again) it was NOT laugh out loud funny. brohaugh's "cutesy" humor gets a little thin by the end. ( nor a poet.)

UNFORTUNATE ENGLISH is a fun way of absorbing the changing histories and meanings of words.

From political incorrectness to offensive expletives of the post, UNFORTUNATE ENGLISH draws some important connections between the older meanings of words and their modern usage, covering both literary and social history in the process. Lively chapters provide informative yet fun histories of selected words and their evolution, from the Old English meaning of 'pretty' as 'artful, clever' to the misinterpretation of 'corsage' today, UNFORTUNATE ENGLISH is a fun way of absorbing the changing histories and meanings of words. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch