Flying By the Seat of Your Pants by Harry Oliver

First Line: I set out to achieve three things when writing this book. To inform, to entertain, and to avoid making people yawn.

I love language. I love slang and colloquialisms, so it's no surprise that I looked forward to reading this book with a great deal of anticipation.

Flying by the Seat of Your Pants is a good, solid gathering of everyday expressions for a beginner. For someone who's more conversant with expressions and their origins, there's not going to be much that's new although it may be fun to touch base again with old favorites and realize that your memory's still in good shape.

I do have one word of warning for potential readers. The author, Harry Oliver, is British; therefore, many of these everyday expressions have their origins in the UK. For Anglophiles like me, this is no problem, but for those who aren't interested in how folks across the pond speak, they may want to give this compilation a miss. (On the other hand, why not broaden your knowledge a bit?)

Flying by the Seat of Your Pants: Surprising Origins of Everyday Expressions

by Harry Oliver

eISBN: 9781101478271

Perigee Books © 2008

eBook, 228 pages

Non-Fiction, Standalone

Rating: C+

Source:  Purchased from Amazon.

 

Other-Wordly by Yee-Lum Mak

First Line: Other-Wordly started when I stumbled across the Portuguese word saudade: "the love that remains"; a longing for someone or something that you had loved and then lost.

If you love words as much as I do, you're really going to enjoy Other-Wordly. It is filled with words from not only English but other languages and cultures to expand your vocabulary and to make you realize that, yes, there is a word for that. Like "komorebi", the Japanese word for the sunlight that filters through the leaves of the trees, or "tartle", a Scots word that means to hesitate while introducing or meeting someone because you've forgotten their name.

Now that I think of it, this is the type of beautifully illustrated little book that would make the perfect gift for other language lovers. My only greedy little complaint? It's too short!

Other-Wordly: Words Both Strange and Lovely from Around the World by Yee-Lum Mak

ISBN: 9781452125343

Chronicle Books © 2016

Hardcover, 64 pages

Non-Fiction

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.


 

Ever-Changing English

One of the things I love about the English language is its adaptability to new words and phrases. If you feel the same way, you might be interested in reading this article about the new words that have been added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.