Mark Forsyth

An entertaining "stroll", as the cover says, through the etymology and origins of many English words. Helps expand on your vocabulary and is chock full of random tidbits of trivia to annoy your friends with. If you have ever studied any Latin or Greek, you will be well aware that they form the roots of many English words today, but exactly how the meanings and spellings of words shift is pretty fascinating. A single event, or a single usage of a word, can set the ball rolling for a whol wave of different meanings. Not exactly burdened with a particular message or anything, this is continous links between one word and the next, easy to pick up and read for a few minutes at a time. Forsyth is humourous and keeps the subject engaging. A good read.… (plus d'informations)

I’ve always loved the curious insights to be gained from tracking a word’s origins and the cultural path it has taken as it has found its way into regular use. So when I picked up The Etymologicon, by Mark Forsyth, I was really looking forward to a fascinating and stimulating wander through the history of language, phrases and words. While it’s true that the book does contain a wealth of genuinely intriguing information, for me it was let down by the trite, occasionally distasteful - even offensive - delivery, the hit and (mostly) miss wit, and the forced, often tenuous segues designed to thread the topics together. I struggled to finish - only hung in there for the nuggets of actual information buried beneath the weight of juvenile jokes and verbiage.… (plus d'informations)