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The origins of words and phrases, superstitions, manners and customs, holidays, kitchen utencils, household appliances, household supplies, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, cosmetics, medicines, clothing, national emblems, patriotic societies, periodicals, toys, games, and foods.
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"Brimming with intelligence and personality, a vastly entertaining account of how dictionaries are made - a must read for word mavens. Have you ever tried to define the word "is?" Do you have strong feelings about the word (and, yes, it is a word) "irregardless?" Did you know that OMG was first used in 1917, in a letter to Winston Churchill? These are the questions that keep lexicographers up at night. While most of us might take dictionaries for...
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A welcome edition for the digital age, this volume teaches young people how to do encyclopedia research in the traditional sense. Readers learn the basics of how to use an encylopedia, how to search for information both offline and online, and how to utilize their findings in school projects. They also learn how to do online research, and search tips and information on online citations are given. Finally, this volume lets readers test their research...
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"A delightful and witty treasure trove of utterly useless information by the author of The Things That Nobody Knows. Most encyclopaedias are boring. They are so packed with worthy but dull facts that a great deal of weird and wonderful material is squeezed out. The Encyclopaedia of Everything Else takes the opposite approach and leaves out all the dreary stuff you can find elsewhere. The result is the most fascinating, astonishing, varied and utterly...
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"The Dictionary of Lost Words is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical figures, are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Before the lost word, there was another. It arrived at the Scriptorium in a second-hand envelope, the old address crossed out and Dr Murray, Sunnyside, Oxford, written in its place. It was Da's job to open the post and...
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Mountweazel n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement. Peter Winceworth is a lexicographer in Victorian-era London, toiling away at the letter 'S' for a multi-volume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Secretly, he begins to insert unauthorized fictitious entries into the dictionary in an attempt to assert some artistic freedom. In the present day, Mallory is a young...
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This volume describes the different types of dictionaries, how they are compiled and organized, what pronunciation symbols and accents mean, and what abbreviations represent. Word Workers and vocabulary boxes explain well-known lexicographers and important words to know.
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"Jez Burrows opened the New Oxford American Dictionary and sat, mystified. Instead of the definition of "study" he was looking for, he found himself drawn to the strangely conspicuous, curiously melodramatic sentence that followed it: "He perched on the edge of the bed, a study in confusion and misery." It read like a tiny piece of fiction on the lam and hiding out in the dictionary--and it wasn't alone. Was it possible to reunite these fugitive fictions?...
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The greatest remedy for writer's block--and an effective way to expand one's vocabulary--is the use of the writer's go-to resource: a thesaurus. Thesauri are easier to use than ever before, thanks to numerous online options that complement traditional print editions. Readers will not only discover how to zero in on just the right word for the occasion, but they will also learn how to identify parts of speech, related words, and the fine distinctions...
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"In 1746, Samuel Johnson undertook the Herculean task of writing the first comprehensive English dictionary. Imagining he could complete the job in three years, Johnson in fact took more than eight, and the dictionary itself turned out to be as much a work of literature as it was an invaluable reference. In alphabetized chapters, from 'Adventurous' to 'Zootomy,' Henry Hitchings tells of Johnson's toil and triumph and offers a closer look at the definitions...
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"In 1934, Webster's Second was the great gray eminence of American dictionaries, with 600,000 entries and numerous competitors but no rivals. It served as the all-knowing guide to the world of grammar and information, a kind of one-stop reference work. In 1961, Webster's Third came along and ignited an unprecedented controversy in America's newspapers, universities, and living rooms. The new dictionary's editor, Philip Gove, had overhauled Merriam's...
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