Words Words Words by David Crystal
For people who are interested in the subject of “words”, I can’t imagine a better book to read than Words Words Words by David Crystal. Mr. Crystal looks at the word from just about every angle you can look at it from. In the 224-page book, including etymology and lexicology. Each chapter discusses a different aspect of the word.
David Crystal has a talent for taking a dry subject like words and making it not just mildly interesting, but actually engaging. Words Words Words will be readable by both adult wordsmiths and teenage students alike.
Chapter Summary in Words Words Words
Some of the chapters include a discussion of how a language changes and evolves over time, the interplay between different languages and their speakers, place names, baby names, how to learn knew words, the etymology of words, the art of dictionary making and how a person can estimate the size of their vocabulary (Crystal claims each person has around 35,000 words, much more than most linguists assume).
There are also interesting sections on slang words (some pretty racy sections), words games, word puzzles, word searches, wordplay, spelling and pronunciation and fun stuff like dialects.
Becoming a Word Detective
In the final chapter of the book, David Crystal supplies a resource for us online word afficionados, by giving us an archive of online resources on the origin of words. He also includes print sources on the subject of etymology in the section titled “Becoming a Word Detective”.
In other words, Words Words Words gives the keys to the kingdom for those wanting to learn more about the English language, and languages in general. The book sells for a little over $11 on Amazon, so it’s in the price range for most of us. This is one any word lover can’t miss.
About David Crystal
If you’re not familiar with David Crystal, this author and linguist was born in Northern Ireland and raised in both Holyhead, Wales and Liverpool, England. He has written about virtually every aspect of language, including indexing, language learning, language teaching, indexing, lexicography, language death and forensic linguistics.
Among David Crystal’s other books are The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (1987, 1995), The Cambridge Biographical Dictionary, The Cambridge Factfinder, The New Penguin Encyclopedia (2003), The Stories of English, Txtng: The Gr8 Db8 and Just a Phrase I’m Going Through: My Life in Language.