Historical & Comparative

A fascinating collection of the many unusual and vibrant phrases that adorn our language, looking at their origins and meanings. Don't be down in the dumps if you can't cut the mustard when asked the definition of certain phrases - this down-to-earth...

'A whirlwind tour of the joys of English, by the master of concision and wit.' - Susie Dent'Gyles is very funny - and never lost for words!' - Dame Judi DenchAs fans of Just a Minute know, the key to the game is knowing your way around the English...

**WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE** 'A book of big questions, and big answers' Yuval Noah Harari, bestselling author of Sapiens Why has human history unfolded so differently across the globe? And what can it teach us about our current crisis? Jared Diamond...

"Guy Deutscher is that rare beast, an academic who talks good sense about linguistics... he argues in a playful and provocative way, that our mother tongue does indeed affect how we think and, just as important, how we perceive the world." Observer*Does...

Where did the words bungalow and assassin derive? What did nice mean in the Middle Ages? How were adder, anger, and umpire originally spelt? The answers can be found in this essential companion to any popular dictionary. With over 17,000 entries, this...

A NEW, BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED HARDBACK EDITION OF THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER, PUBLISHED ON ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY.'Witty and erudite ... stuffed with the kind of arcane information that nobody strictly needs to know, but which is a pleasure...

'A dream! I learnt something new and fascinating on every page' - Lucy Mangan 'Invaluable - and hugely entertaining ... It is an absolute romp and a must-have for history and fantasy enthusiasts alike' - Eleanor Janega 'Endlessly fascinating' - the...

Theclassic Wheelock's Latin remains the most highly regarded andbestselling single-volume, introductory Latin textbook of its kind. Now in itsseventh edition, Wheelock's Latin retains its signature core ofauthentic Latin readings, taken not only from...

In Pop Goes the Weasel, Albert Jack explores the strange and fascinating histories behind the nursery rhymes we thought we knew, showing that their real meanings are far from innocent.Who were Mary Quite Contrary and Georgie Porgie? How could Hey Diddle...

'A persuasive and beautifully written take on how languages are constantly evolving... an enthralling read about human psychology and anthropology as well as linguistics.' ALEX BELLOS___________________________________'Language is mankind's greatest...

The full story of Frank Ramsey's extraordinary life. When he died in 1930 aged 26, Frank Ramsey had already invented one branch of mathematics and two branches of economics, laying the foundations for decision theory and game theory. Keynes deferred...

'Salman Khan has long been on the cutting edge of education, and in Brave New Words, he shows us what's next. The book is a timely master class for anyone interested in the future of learning in the AI era. No one has thought more about these issues-or...

THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER'Witty and erudite ... stuffed with the kind of arcane information that nobody strictly needs to know, but which is a pleasure to learn nonetheless.' Nick Duerden, Independent.'Particularly good ... Forsyth takes...

Latin names - frequently unpronounceable, all too often wrong and always a tiny puzzle to unravel - have been annoying the layman since they first became formalised as scientific terms in the eighteenth century. Why on earth has the entirely...

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Most of the world's...

A landmark reference guide to the LGBTQIA+ community's contributions to the English language-an intersectional, inclusive illustrated glossary featuring more than 800 terms created by and for queer culture.With a foreword from Paula Akpan Do you know...

As the crow flies'', ''chunder'', ''cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey'', ''three sheets to the wind'' - many terms like these are used in everyday English language conversation and writing. But how many landlubbers know that they derive...

In this book, Aidan Doyle traces the history of the Irish language from the time of the Norman invasion at the end of the 12th century to independence in 1922, combining political, cultural, and linguistic history. The book is divided into seven main...

A spot-on guide to how and why Americans have become so bloody keen on Britishisms-for good or illThe British love to complain that words and phrases imported from America-from French fries to Awesome, man!-are destroying the English language. But what...

The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology is the most comprehensive dictionary of the English language ever published. It is based on the original edition of the Oxford English Dictionary but much augmented by further research on the etymology of...

This celebrated work by one of the foremost experts in Indo-European and Classical linguistics is now available in a fully revised second edition, thoroughly updated and corrected with over fifty pages of new material. The Outline's forty-five chapters...

'Marvellously clear... playfully persuasive' Richard Dawkins'Full of Fascinating details. A delight to read.' Tim Harford'Highly original and convincing ... a delight to read!' - Daniel EverettWhat is language?Why do we have it?Why does that...

'A tour de force' Alice Roberts 'Wonderful ... A remarkably comprehensive biography of the single most important thing we all share - language' Robin Dunbar The relationship between language, thought and culture is of concern to anyone with an...

'Melvyn Bragg's superb new history of the English language is told as an adventure story, and rightly so. There is much splendid intellectual firepower in this book.' Andrew Roberts, SpectatorEnglish is the collective work of millions of people...

Relabeling is a process that assigns a lexical entry of language-x a new label derived from a phonetic string drawn from language-y. This process plays a central role in the formation of contact languages such as mixed languages, pidgins and creoles, and...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780380715435Author Bill BrysonFormat PaperbackPage Count 320Imprint Avon BooksPublisher HarperCollins Publishers IncWeight(grams) 249gDimensions(mm) 198mm *...

Winner of the 1990 American Book Award What is classical about Classical civilization? In one of the most audacious works of scholarship ever written, Martin Bernal challenges the foundation of our thinking about this question. Classical civilization, he...

When and why did 'thou' disappear from Standard English? Would a Victorian Cockney have said 'observation' or 'hobservation'? Was Jane Austen making a mistake when she wrote 'Jenny and James are walked to Charmonth this afternoon'?This superbly...

When and why did 'thou' disappear from Standard English? Would a Victorian Cockney have said 'observation' or 'hobservation'? Was Jane Austen making a mistake when she wrote 'Jenny and James are walked to Charmonth this afternoon'?This superbly...

From late antiquity through to the early middle ages, people across north-western Europe were inscribing runes on a range of different objects. Once identified and interpreted by experts, runes provide us with invaluable evidence for the early 'Germanic'...

Half of all 7,000-plus human languages may disappear over the next century and - because many have never been recorded - when they're gone, it will be forever. Ross Perlin, a linguist and co-director of the Endangered Language Alliance, is racing against...

Peter Trudgill looks at why human societies at different times and places produce different kinds of language. He considers how far social factors influence language structure and compares languages and dialects spoken across the globe, from Vietnam to...

The Story of English is the extraordinary tale of the origins and development of the English language. Two thousand years ago English was confined to a handful of savage tribes on the shores of north-west Europe; today, in one form or another, it is...

The Story of English is the extraordinary tale of the origins and development of the English language. Two thousand years ago English was confined to a handful of savage tribes on the shores of north-west Europe; today, in one form or another, it is...

*A TIME, New Yorker, Financial Times and History Today Book of the Year*'Hilarious' Sam Leith'I loved this book' Susie Dent''Witty and affectionate' Lynne TrussPerfect for book lovers, a delightful history of the wonders to be found in the humble book...

Half the world's languages are threatened with extinction over the next century, as English and the rest of the world's top twenty languages drive all before them. What ways of looking at the world will die along with them, what cultural riches, what...

Lost origins of words revealed. We like to recount that goodbye started out as "god be with you," that whiskey comes from the Gaelic for "water of life," or that avocado originated as the Aztec word for "testicle." But there are many words with...

A fascinating and incisive examination of our language instinct from award-winning science writer Steven Mithen.Along with the concepts of consciousness and intelligence, our capacity for language sits right at the core of what makes us human. But while...

Beginning with the stories of three great decipherments - Egyptian hieroglyphs, Minoan Linear B and Mayan glyphs - Lost Languages moves on to dissect the most well-known and enigmatic undeciphered scripts from around the world. These include the...

Swearing is a fascinating thing. Almost everyone does it, or worries about not doing it, from the two year old who has just discovered the power of the potty mouth to the grandma who wonders why every other word she hears is obscene. But more than its...