22 November 2010
It’s that time of year again. For those looking to buy a gift for the logophile in their life, including those who want to treat themselves, here are a few suggestions.
Linguist David Crystal is one of the most prolific writers on language, and his books are uniformly engrossing and well-researched. This year, in time for the four hundredth anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible, Crystal takes a look at how that 1611 book influenced the English language in Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language.
Another recently published book is Allan Metcalf’s OK: The Improbable Story of America’s Greatest Word. Metcalf traces the history of this most American of words from its origin as a lame joke in an 1839 newspaper all the way to Ned Flanders’s “okeley dokely.”
One of the most interesting language book published of 2010 is Guy Deutscher’s Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages. Deutscher reviews the research behind the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and explores how language influences the way in which we think.
For those looking for something in a historical overview of the English language, Jack Lynch’s The Lexicographer’s Dilemma: The Evolution of “Proper” English, from Shakespeare to South Park may be just the ticket. If you want to read about how humans began to speak, how Samuel Johnson created his dictionary, or how Philip Gove and the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary shocked the English-speaking world, this is the book.
For professional writers and academics, two of the primary research-oriented style guides have been updated this year. The Chicago Manual of Style is now in its sixteenth edition. And the Modern Language Association has published the seventh edition of its MLA Handbook. Both are essential for academics and students, and Chicago is a must for any professional writer.
On the lighter side, there is Charles Harrington Elster’s The Accidents of Style: Good Advice on How Not to Write Badly. Elster provides a “crash course” on how to avoid the potholes and fender benders that make traveling the writing highway hazardous. I have a more complete review of Elster’s book here.
The Bodleian Library has reprinted the New Dictionary of Terms, Ancient and Modern, of the Canting Crew by B. E. Gentleman. The 2010 title of this venerable work is The First English Dictionary of Slang, 1699. It’s a snapshot of what English slang was like three hundred years ago.
There are of course some old standbys that make great gifts. And if you don’t have these on your shelf, you should definitely put them on your wish list for this year.
Jesse Sheidlower’s The F Word is the definitive history of that most taboo of English words. Sheidlower not only gives us the history, but provides detailed lexicographic entries for all the various forms the word comes in and uses it is put it.
Fred Shapiro’s The Yale Book of Quotations is undoubtedly the finest quotations book on the market. It is both comprehensive and thoroughly researched. If you have only one book of quotes on your shelf, this should be the one.
When it comes to style guides, there are two that are a must for anyone serious about writing. The first is Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage. This volume provides a complete historical overview for all those pesky rules of usage. Not only does it tell you what the rule is, but it tells you why. The second is Garner’s Modern American Usage. Usage expert Bryan Garner is a bit conservative and prescriptive for my taste, but he doesn’t steer you wrong. No one ever got in trouble following Garner’s advice.
Finally, of course, there is my own Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends. If you don’t have this one already, what are you waiting for?
(Disclosure: I received free review copies of some of these books. Oxford University Press, the publisher of many of them, is also the publisher of my book, Word Myths. Additionally, if you click through the links and make a purchase, I receive a very small referral payment from Amazon.com.)
