Summary: This course introduces the student to the history of the English language, from its origins as a dialect of the Germanic-speaking peoples, through the literary and cultural documents of its 1500 year span, to the state of American speech of the present day.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Teaching Co. 2008
Copies Available at Woodmere
2 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 420.9 HISCall number: DVD 420.9 HIS
Lerer, Seth
Summary: Presents lectures on the history of the English language.
Format: sound recording-nonmusical
Publisher / Publication Date: Teaching Co. 1998
Copies Available at Woodmere
2 available in Compact Disc Audio Book, Call number: CD 420 LER PART ICall number: CD 420 LER PART III
Matthews, Scott
Summary: "Like many people, you've probably used idioms or phrases like these without giving them a second thought. But if you were to take a moment to step back and learn about them you'll be pleasantly surprised to discover the mesmerizing and sometimes outright bizarre origins to these fun sayings! In Why Do We Say That, we have curated 101 of the most regularly used idioms, proverbs, turns of...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: [publisher not identified] 2021
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 423.13 MATWilson, Tom Read
Summary: "From aardvark to zombie, from ogre to gargoyle, every word in our language has its story to tell. Words take an amazing journey from their earliest origins to the meaning they have today. Allow Tom Read Wilson to be your passionate guide and explore with him through entertaining rhymes and fascinating facts the etymology of more than one hundred of his favorite words in this sumptuous...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: words & pictures, an imprint of The Quarto Group 2022
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1 available in Juvenile Nonfiction, Call number: J 422 WILSkipworth, Patrick
Summary: Explores the global diversity hidden in the English language by explaining the origins of words like "ukulele," "zero," and "safari."
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: What on Earth Books 2020
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Juvenile Nonfiction, Call number: J 420.9 SKIHorobin, Simon
Summary: Where do our everyday words come from? The bagel you eat for breakfast, the bumf you have to wade through at the office, and the bus that takes you home again: we use these words without thinking about their origins or how their meanings have changed over time. Simon Horobin takes the reader on a journey through a typical day, showing how the words we use to describe routine activities -...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Oxford University Press 2019
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 420 HORMcWhorter, John H.
Summary: Why do we say "I am reading a catalog" instead of "I read a catalog"? Why do we say "do" at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, author McWhorter distills hundreds of years of lore into one lively history. Covering the little-known Celtic and Welsh influences on English, the impact of the Viking raids and the Norman...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Gotham Books 2009
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 420.9 MCWFeldman, David
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Harper & Row 1989
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 422 FELKorach, Myron.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Lyons Press 2001
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 422 KORWinchester, Simon.
Summary: Looks at the making of the Oxford English dictionary.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: HarperPerennial 2005
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2 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 423 WINPetras, Kathryn
Summary: "An entertaining and informative guide to the most common 150 words even smart people use incorrectly, along with pithy forays into their fascinating etymologies and tangled histories of use and misuse"--
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Ten Speed Press 2018
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 428.1 PETHendrickson, Robert
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Checkmark Books 1997
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 422.03 HENOgilvie, Sarah
Summary: For the first time ever, this thrilling literary detective story, doubling as a celebration of words, language, people and one of mankind's greatest achievements, unravels the mystery of the contributors from around the world who, for over seventy years, helped to codify the way we read, write and speak.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Alfred A. Knopf 2023
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 423.0922 OGLJack, Albert.
Summary: A compendium of phrases that are used every day in the English language explores their origins and evolution, encompassing such sayings as "go with the flow," "mad as a hatter," "left in the lurch," and "getting down to brass tacks."
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: HarperCollinsPublishers 2006
Copies Available at Interlochen
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: Word JackNuttall, Jennifer Anne
Summary: "An enlightening linguistic journey through a thousand years of feminist language - and what we can learn from the vivid vocabulary that English once had for women's bodies, experiences, and sexuality. So many of the words that we use to chronicle women's lives feel awkward or alien. Medical terms are scrupulously accurate but antiseptic. Slang and obscenities have shock value, yet they...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Viking 2023
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 422 NUTKolatch, Alfred J.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: J. David Publishers 1998
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1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 929.4 KOLStein, Lou.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Heritage Books 1988
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1 available in Genealogy, Call number: R GEN 929.42 STEMorris, Evan.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill 2000
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 422 MOROstler, Rosemarie
Summary: "Standard grammar and accurate spelling are widely considered hallmarks of a good education, but their exact definitions are much more contentious -- capable of inciting a full-blown grammar war at the splice of a comma, battles readily visible in the media and online in the comments of blogs and chat rooms. With an accessible and enthusiastic journalistic approach, Ostler considers these...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: 2015
Copies Available at Interlochen
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: Word OstlerJones, Paul Anthony
Summary: Examines the etymological origins and developments of one hundred words, including "brothel," "grin," and "zombie."
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Pegasus Books 2017
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 422 JONRogers, John G.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Mystic Seaport Museum 1984
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 623.803 ROGSheehan, Michael
Contents: Student bloopers -- Nautical or nice -- Nifty neologisms -- Krazy combos -- Significantly insignificant -- Double your pleasure -- Bar none -- Future imperfect -- Names that fit like a glove -- Dum and dummer -- Pardon me, myth -- Feet of measured confusion -- Malapropisms and mondegreens -- Mach 1 -- Hue and cry -- Guardian and guideword -- Ollie, ollie, -ologist -- Irish bulls -- Word...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Arbutus Press 2006
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 423.028 SHEWinchester, Simon.
Summary: Describes how more than ten thousand definitions were submitted for the first Oxford English Dictionary from Dr. W.C. Minor, an American Civil War criminal who was considered both a genius and a lunatic.
Format: sound recording-nonmusical
Publisher / Publication Date: Harper Audio 2005