Why Is Q Always Followed by U?
Why Is Q Always Followed by U?: Word-Perfect Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About Language is a hardcover book by Michael Quinion which was released recently (July 2, 2009) that many English-speaking wordsmiths, writers, readers, linguists and etymologists will want to add to their “word book” collections. “Why Is Q Always Followed by U?” is a 304 page book released by Particular Books, which answers 200 of the most-asked questions about the English language.
Word Questions
These “word questions” cover everything from the etymology of certain words, to how the pop culture has affected so many of the common phrases we use every day. For instance, Michael Quinion discusses what role Liberace (of all people) played in one of our famous modern phrases about banks. You’ll learn what the Prohibition Era and its speakeasies had to do with the creation of the angelic phrase “cloud nine”. The information contained in Why Is Q Always Followed By U? will be the kind of conversation starters and anecdotes that will mark you as a person of words everywhere you go.
Word Stories
If you enjoy colorful word stories, Michael Quinion is a good place to start reading about some of the best and most information anecdotes about the words we use. In the introduction to the book, Michael Quinion writes that he’s answered over 900 questions about words, and he’s collected her the 200 most popular questions he’s ever received about words, letter and famed phrases.
World Wide Words
World Wide Words is Michael Quinion’s e-magazine about English words and linguistics. Quinion updates his site all the time, because the internet has given word researches more resources, but also changed their understanding of the history of the English language.
With so many old newspapers and periodicals now posted online, etymologists and word historians are able to search for the earliest possible examples of a word. That means the answers to some of these questions have changed since Michael Quinion first answered them, so the revised answers are collected in Why Is Q Always Followed by U?.
Of course, you’ll probably find that some of the answers in this book and “World Wide Words” might be changed once again at a later date, but many of modern word origins we already know about. These are among some of the most famous word derivations and phrase origins I’ve read about. The truth truly is stranger than fiction sometimes.
About Michael Quinion
Michael Quinion studied physical sciences at Cambridge University, but eventually worked for BBC Radio and became a linguist, etymologist and writer. Reading any of his books or his words website, World Wide Words, will make you realize that Michael Quinion has a passion about English words.
Other Books By Michael Quinion
Michael Quinion’s first major contribution to word studies was the Oxford English Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of New Words (1996). In 2002, he wrote the book Ologies and Isms, while in 2004 he wrote the book Port Out, Starboard Home: And Other Language Myths. (Those in the United States will know this same book as Ballyhoo, Buckaroo and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins. It would seem the publisher didn’t expect to land-lubbing Americans to know what the heck “port” and “starboard” are.)
In 2006, Michael Quinion produced the book Gallimaufry: A Hodgepodge of Our Vanishing Vocabulary. Besides “Why Does Q Always Followed by U?: Word-Perfect Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About Language“, Michael Quinion has also published non-etymological books on cider making and orcharding (called Cidermaking and A Drink For Its Time).