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Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and
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Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret ... With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory 2008

by Roy Blount Jr

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Reader reviews for Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret ... With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory

From the publisher

"Ali G: How many words does you know?"

"Noam Chomsky: Normally, humans, by maturity, have tens of thousands of them."

"Ali G: What is some of 'em?""-- Youtube.com" After forty years of making a living using words in every medium, print or electronic, except greeting cards, Roy Blount Jr. still can't get over his ABCs. In "Alphabet Juice," he celebrates the juju, the sonic and kinetic energies of letters and their combinations. Blount does not prescribe proper English. The franchise he claims is "over the counter" and concentrates more on questions such as these: Did you know that both "mammal "and "matter "derive from baby talk? Have you noticed how "wince "makes you wince?

Three and a half centuries ago, Sir Thomas Blount produced "Blount's Glossographia," the first dictionary to explore derivations of English words. This Blount's Glossographia takes that pursuit to other levels. It rejects the standard linguistic notion that the connection between words and their meanings is "arbitrary." Even the word "arbitrary "is shown to be no more arbitrary, at its roots, than "go-to guy "or "crackerjack." From sources as venerable as the "OED "(in which Blount finds an inconsistency, at "whisk") and as fresh as Urbandictionary.com (to which Blount has contributed the number-one definition of "alligator arm"), and especially from the author's own wide-ranging experience, "Alphabet Juice "derives an organic take on language that is unlike, and more fun than, any other.

Details

  • Title Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret ... With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory
  • Author Roy Blount Jr
  • Binding unknown
  • Edition Abridged
  • Publisher Macmillan Audio, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
  • Publication date 2008-10
  • ISBN 9781427204936

About the author

Roy Blount Jr. is the author of twenty books, covering subjects from the Pittsburgh Steelers to Robert E. Lee, to trying to understand the South. He is a regular panelist on NPR's "Wait, Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! "and is a contributing editor of "The Atlantic Monthly. " Born in Indianapolis and raised in Decatur, Georgia, Blount now lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, the painter Joan Griswold.

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Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof;...
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UNITED STATES: Macmillan Audio, 2008. Audio Book. Good. AUDIO CD. 4 AUDIO CDs withdrawn from the library collection. Some library marking. We will polish the Audio CDs for smooth listening. You will receive a good set. Enjoy this reliable AUDIO CD performance..
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Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof;...
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audioCD. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
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