Never Enough Words: How Americans Invented Expressions as Ingenious, Ornery, and Colorful as ThemselvesFrom native words to current coinages, the American vocabulary highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of the national personality. In Never Enough Words, Jeffrey McQuain, the noted guest writer for William Safire's On Language column, offers a fascinating look at the evolution of American language and the agility, with which Americans apply old words to new situations, resulting in new meanings. From the humorous (lawyer bird, named for its long bill) to the sonorous (whippoorwills and katydids, named for the sounds they make), McQuain demonstrates how our distinctive American traits -- bravado, inventiveness, and patriotism, to name a few -- have uniquely shaped our language. |
From inside the book
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Page 95
... once composed for himself . After his death in 1790 , Franklin's actual epitaph was a short Latin phrase that lacked the inventiveness of this ear- lier version : The body of Benjamin Franklin , printer , ( Like the covers of an old ...
... once composed for himself . After his death in 1790 , Franklin's actual epitaph was a short Latin phrase that lacked the inventiveness of this ear- lier version : The body of Benjamin Franklin , printer , ( Like the covers of an old ...
Page 132
... once was used as a legal term for " ordered recorded . " Minutes taken from court records of 1790 reported that a transfer of " power of attorney from Alex Dever to Joseph McElurath is duly acknowledged & O.R. ” That lettering is now ...
... once was used as a legal term for " ordered recorded . " Minutes taken from court records of 1790 reported that a transfer of " power of attorney from Alex Dever to Joseph McElurath is duly acknowledged & O.R. ” That lettering is now ...
Page 223
... once commented , " The War is what A.D. is elsewhere ; they date from it . All day long you hear things ' placed ' as having happened since the War ; or ' du'in ' the War , ' or ' befo ' the War . ' " It was in the midst of the Civil ...
... once commented , " The War is what A.D. is elsewhere ; they date from it . All day long you hear things ' placed ' as having happened since the War ; or ' du'in ' the War , ' or ' befo ' the War . ' " It was in the midst of the Civil ...
Common terms and phrases
abbreviation adjective Algonquian Amer American language American words animal appeared applied Bartlett became began Blue Laws Boston British English California called celebrated century ago Civil clipped coinages colonial dates back Davy Crockett decade later described dialect Dictionary of American drink earlier early England euphemism example explained expression frontier guage H. L. Mencken Harper's Magazine heard horse ican included Indian instance James Fenimore Cooper John known letter Mark Twain meaning modern Native Americans newspaper nineteenth century Noah Webster noun obsolete origin party perhaps person phrase play political popular president recent referred reported sense shortening sickout slang slang term sometimes southern speech spelling Stephen Vincent Benét story synonym tall talk thumbs tion today's took turn tury twentieth century United usage variant verb Virginia vocabulary WAGON West western William Safire woman World writer wrote Yankee York