There's a Word for It: The Explosion of the American Language Since 1900

By Sol Steinmetz and Dashka Slater

Word geeks (1984), rejoice! Crack open these covers and immerse yourself in a mind-expanding (1963) compendium of the new words (or new meanings of words) that have sprung from American life to ignite... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375426175
• ISBN13: 9780375426179
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

Fun and Informative

I really enjoyed this book. I am definitely a word nerd and this was a great read. It was really interesting to read the social context of many of the words we use everyday and just assume they have always been aroung.

AN AMUSING BOOK ON LANGUAGE

This is a fun little book. Not really a dictionary, but a decade by decade analysis of new words that joined the langauge. Each decade has an essay that gives the social and historical context of the time, and analyzes the new words, with derivation and first known usage. The essay is then followed by a list of words with a brief ( a few words) meaning. Not really a dictionary, this is more of a book to read for pleasure than something for the reference shelf. This book will be appreciated by anyone even mildly interested in the English ( American) language, and would make a nice gift.