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Searching for the Meaning of It All at the Oxford English Dictionary
by John Simpson
A brilliant expedition through the world of words, The Word Detective will delight, inspire, and educate any lover of language.
What do you call the part of a dog's back it can't scratch? Can you drink a glass of balderdash? And if, serendipitously, you find yourself in Serendip, then where exactly are you?
The answers to all of these questions can be found in the Oxford English Dictionary, the definitive record of the English language. And there is no better guide to the dictionary's many wonderments, its quirks, and its quiddities than the former chief editor of the OED, John Simpson. John spent almost four decades of his life immersed in the intricacies of our language, and guides us through its history with charmingly laconic wit. In The Word Detective, an intensely personal memoir and a joyful celebration of English, he weaves a story of how words come into being (and sometimes disappear), how cultures shape the language we use, and how we cope when words fail us.
Throughout, he enlivens his narrative with lively excavations and investigations of individual words - from deadline to online and back to 101 (yes, it's a word) - all the while reminding us that the seemingly mundane words (can you name the four different meanings of ma?) are often the most interesting ones.
"Starred Review. A captivating celebration of a life among words." - Kirkus
"Starred Review. This witty exploration of culture and language will be welcomed by users of the OED and anyone interested in the study of language." - Library Journal
"Simpson's vibrant and inspiring memoir gives us a glimpse into life as detective in the realm of words." - Publishers Weekly
This information about The Word Detective was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
John Simpson is the former chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, where he helped take the dictionary online. John is an emeritus fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford, and writes and researches widely on lexical, literary, and historical issues. He now lives in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom.
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