The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words

by Anu Garg

Overview

From the creator of the popular A.Word.A.Day e-mail newsletter 

A collection of some of the most interesting stories and fascinating origins behind more than 300 words, names, and terms by the founder of WordSmith.org. 

Did you know:
There’s a word for the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell? Petrichor, combining petros (Greek for stone) and ichor (the fluid that flows in the veins of Greek gods). 

An illeist is one who refers to oneself in the third person. 

There’s a word for feigning lack of interest in something while actually desiring it: accismus. 

For any aspiring deipnosophist (a good conversationalist at meals) or devoted Philomath (a lover of learning), this anthology of entertaining etymology is an ideal way to have fun while getting smarter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440623097
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/30/2007
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	489,459
File size:	327 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

ANU GARG is the founder of Wordsmith.org, an online community of word lovers from 200 countries, now in its thirteenth year. He is also the creator of the A.Word.A.Day e-mail newsletter with more than 600,000 subscribers, and the author of the books A Word A Day and Another Word A Day.