Book description
Master verbalist Richard Lederer, America's "Wizard of
Idiom" (Denver Post), presents a love letter to the most
glorious of human achievements...
Welcome to Richard Lederer's beguiling celebration of language -- of
our ability to utter, write, and receive words. No purists need stop
here. Mr. Lederer is no linguistic sheriff organizing posses to hunt
down and string up language offenders. Instead, join him "In
Praise of English," and discover why the tongue described in
Shakespeare's day as "of small reatch" has become the most
widely spoken language in history:
-
English never rejects a word because of race, creed, or
national origin. Did you know that jukebox comes from
Gullah and canoe from Haitian Creole?
-
Many of our greatest writers have invented words and
bequeathed new expressions to our eveyday conversations. Can
you imagine making up almost ten percent of our written
vocabulary? Scholars now know that William Shakespeare did
just that!
He also points out the pitfalls and pratfalls of English. If a man
mans a station, what does a woman do? In the "The Department of
Redundancy Department," "Is English Prejudiced?" and
other essays, Richard Lederer urges us not to abandon that which makes
us human: the capacity to distinguish, discriminate, compare, and
evaluate.
James J. Kilpatrick Let me commend The Miracle Of
Language chiefly for the sheer fun of it, but there's solid stuff
to chew on too.
Richard Lederer is the author of more than 30 books about
language, history, and humor, including his best-selling Anguished
English series and his current book, Presidential Trivia.
He has been profiled in magazines as diverse as The New Yorker,
People, and the National Enquirer and frequently appears
on radio as a commentator on language. Dr. Lederer's syndicated
column, "Looking at Language," appears in newspapers and
magazines throughout the United States. He has been named
International Punster of the Year and Toastmasters International's
Golden Gavel winner.
