![]() ![]() As he puts it, his goal is to "leave the reader with a sense of where many modern usages may have come from, or in some cases have strayed, whether we choose to think of the changes as corruptions or improvements."Study the altered meanings in this erudite but full book and you'll be able to "razzle-dazzle" (originally, a daylong drinking bout) your friends and acquaintances. Then, "improve" meant "to make progress in that which is evil." And there was no romantic "tryst" with a man or woman then the word meant "a fair for black cattle, horses, and sheep"!Author Jeffrey Kacirk, a man intrigued by words, has sifted through mountains of discarded meanings to arrive at almost 1,500 entries in this fascinating romp through the ever-changing world of lexicography. This process is a continuous one, as can be seen in today's word "bad, " whose meaning is now its own opposite: "great." As another example, consider England 500 years ago. The Word Museum by Jeffrey Kacirk - ENTER A GALLERY OF WIT AND WHIMSY As the largest and most dynamic collection of words ever assembled, the English langua. Jeffrey Kacirks most popular book is The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever. ![]() Over the Centuries, innumerable English words have drifted from their original purposes and acquired vastly diferent meanings - some subtle and others not so. Jeffrey Kacirk has 19 books on Goodreads with 1984 ratings. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |