Product Description

Discover the fascinating stories behind the words and phrases we use every day. English is now the world's most popular second language, understood by over 700 million people across the globe. Its use is amazingly broad: not only is it the language of Chaucer and Shakespeare, but also of hip-hop, international business and the internet (over 80% of home pages are in English). So where exactly do English words come from? They come from everywhere. English is a vast, rambling conglomeration of words and phrases from a huge variety of times and places, and every word has its own intriguing history."Balderdash & Piffle" is a guidebook - an entertaining look at what falls out of the chaotic family tree of English words when you uproot it and give it a damn good shake. Shaking the tree is writer, humorist and word-sleuth Alex Games. If you've ever wondered who first used 'cuppa' in print, what language gave us 'shampoo', when we started saying 'window', where 'minging' comes from, what Shakespeare had to say about 'geeks' and why 'berk' is really, really rude, you'll find it all (and much more) inside. You'll also have the chance to do your own word-sleuthing, through the BBC Wordhunt appeal. Who knows - if you have written evidence of a 'bouncy castle' from before 1986, you could even re-write history...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86267 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

Not Balderdash but Brilliant!
Ignore the title - this is not tommyrot and tosh, but a treasure-trove: an entertaining and informative romp through the English Language - particularly the origins and peculiarities of words and phrases. Whether it's the words of sport, foreign languages or science that tickle your fancy, whether you find Shakespeare or JK Rowling gets your goat, you'll find something in this volume that's the bee's knees.

It's an accessible and attractive book that manages to cram in a huge number of interesting facts. Written with authority that doesn't give credence to urban word myths (unlike some other books which less successfully tackle this subject matter), the author has stamped great humour and attitude across each chapter.

It's the sort of book it's hard not to read out loud to anyone else who happens to be in the room - bound to appeal to the same wordy audience first tapped by Lynne Truss. It sits happily alongside the excellent BBC series of the same name, but also stands alone as a rattling good read - definitely recommended.

A delight-delving into Words
Balderdash and Piffle is yet another book in the emerging genre of- How should one put it?- popular etymology.
As the follow-up or accompaniment to the eponymous TV series,it quite happily demonstrates a life of its own, stimulating a quick delve into the dictionary to work out the sometimes bizarre origins of phrases we may have taken for granted for too long.
Just as the TV series indicated what could be done to engage a wide public- demotic enough for the man on the bus, erudite enough for the don in the ivory tower- so this book and its ilk have the capacity to stimulate a very wide debate.
But the most important reason for the existence of populist writing is that it should be enjoyable first and foremost: It's a delight and can be heartily recommended.

Not balderdash but brilliant...
Ignore the title - this is not tommyrot and tosh, but a treasure-trove: an entertaining and informative romp through the English Language - particularly the origins and peculiarities of words and phrases. Whether it's the words of sport, foreign languages or science that tickle your fancy, whether you find Shakespeare or JK Rowling gets your goat, you'll find something in this volume that's the bee's knees.

It's an accessible and attractive book that manages to cram in a huge number of interesting facts. Written with authority that doesn't give credence to urban word myths (unlike some other books which less successfully tackle this subject matter), the author has stamped great humour and attitude across each chapter.

It's the sort of book it's hard not to read out loud to anyone else who happens to be in the room - bound to appeal to the same wordy audience first tapped by Lynne Truss. It sits happily alongside the excellent BBC series of the same name, but also stands alone as a rattling good read - definitely recommended.