Author(s): David Crystal

Languages & Reference

Drawing on a lifetime?s experience, David Crystal explores language in all its rich varieties through words: the very building blocks of our communication. As we are guided expertly and passionately through the mysteries and delights of word origins, histories, spellings, regional and social variations, taboo words, jargon, and wordplay, the contribution we make in shaping the linguistic world around us becomes evident. This is a celebration of how we say what, and how we say it, and invites us to engage linguistically with who we are: to understand what words tell us about where we come from and what we do. It suggests ways that we can look at words anew and get involved with collecting and coining words.