Words to the Wise: A Lighthearted Look at the English Language

By Michael J. Sheehan

You've been dying to know: How did punctuation get started? (Monks did it.) Where did ?nerds? come from? (Dr. Seuss.) And what exactly is a checkered past? (A 14th-century French allusion to snowy... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 096653168X
• ISBN13: 9780966531688
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Arbutus Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Eats and Stays

"Words to the Wise," in my opinion, is much more useful than "Eats, Shoots and Leaves." There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all, the British book contains a number of punctuation rules which simply don't apply in America; quotation marks are handled differently on each side of the Atlantic, for instance.Secondly, Sheehan's book doesn't limit itself merely to punctuation, as Truss' book does. He gets into word meanings, the origin of phrases, language history, and an incredible range of language humor. In addition, the format of the book (Q & A) lends itself to easy reading. You don't have to plow through dense chapters to get the answers you need.This book will serve as my graduation gift to nieces and nephews this season.Nancy Pearman