The Life of Language

About this book

If time travelers from the nineteenth century dropped in on us, our strange vocabulary would shock them just as much as our TVs, cars, and computers. Society changes, and so does its word stock. The Life of Language reveals how pop culture, business, technology, and other forces of globalization expand and enrich the English language, forming thousands of new words every year. In this fascinating and jargon-free guide, lexicographers Kipfer and Steinmetz reconstruct the births of thousands of words, including infantries, poz, mobs, Soho, dinks, choo choos, frankenfoods, LOL, narcs and perps. A word lover's guide to etymology, written in a fun, informal, and accessible style An excellent resource for vocabulary building; a word's root helps readers understand its meaning Beautifully packaged paperback with French flapsFrom the Trade Paperback edition.