WriMo Ireland

All the talk about words lately has got me thinking. I’m a big fan of ‘words’ in general – I love to read about the English language and the ways in which it has evolved. I also just like to collect unusual words and attempt to use them where possible. So I thought I would share some of my favourite books on the subject and ask you all for some recommendations on where I could go next!

‘The Deeper Meaning of Liff’ – Douglas Adams
Not a particularly serious book but I love the creativity involved in this and it always gives me a laugh no matter what page I happen to open up.

‘Larpers & Shroomers: The Language Report’ – Susie Dent
I suspect this one is a little out of date now (2004) but it’s still one of my favourites – I must check and see if there is a newer edition available. It looks at many different words from all varieties of English – from the US, to New Zealand and South Africa – and explores a lot of modern words that have arisen from the Internet.

‘Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary: Or why can’t anybody spell?’ – Vivian Cook
This covers spelling more than words, another pet interest of mine, and is not necessarily what you’d expect – very balanced view of differences in spelling. A little dry at times if you’re not that interested in the subject and don’t want to read lists of words – contains tests to keep you interested.

‘Foyle’s Philavery’ – Collected by Christopher Foyle
A dictionary of unusual words – some are well-known and just chosen for their beauty, others I have never heard of before. Not all the way through this one yet but have learned some great words so far.

So if anybody has any recommendations for me, fire ahead! As far as I’m concerned, this subject never grows old.