Penguin Books Australia

We live in a torrent of words - from radio and television, books and newspapers, and now from the internet. But, as Julian Burnside reminds us in this new edition of the best-selling Wordwatching , words are a source both of pleasure and power, and can be deployed for good or for ill.

'SWEEPINGLY LEARNED AND ENGAGINGLY GARRULOUS . . .
Sunday Times

'A MUCH-NEEDED CHALLENGE TO CONVENTIONAL WISDOM'
Guardian

How to say Oh la la

Smuggling live chickens into rugby matches is patriotic

How many times to kiss on the cheek

A six-pack is a bar of chocolate

The dangers of being called Peter or Penny

Ordering a steak without getting sneered at

The importance of Wednesdays

How to tip

When to celebrate Christmas

From sugar-cube etiquette to why the Marseillaise is all about...

Memes are 'viruses of the mind'-symbols, ideas, or practices that are transmitted through speech, gestures, and rituals. Understanding how symbols like the peace sign or ad slogans like 'Where's the beef?' or viral videos become part of our common culture has become a primary focus of sales and marketing companies across the globe. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Memes explains how memes work, how...

Increasingly, sign language is becoming essential for parents to understand the wants and needs of their babies - and to help increase verbal development as the infants grow. More than a way to bridge the gap between the gurgling stage and the time when babies are actually able to talk, baby sign language has become a national phenomenon.

When Doreen and her son Grant Virtue were recording podcasts, they noticed that whenever Doreen said the word angel, the recording graphics were shaped like angel wings! So they studied the other words she said and realised that those with a spiritual or loving basis had large graphs.  Then they experimented with saying negative words and found that their appearance was completely different:...

The ultimate guide to writing clear, powerful business documents: now 100% revised and refocused on web/online content!

  Put the power of NLP into practise today. - Neuro-linguistic programming provides an accessible set of tools to help anyone, in any situation, achieve their potential and live a happy and successful life.

How many times have you written an email at work, read it back and found that it didn't make as much sense as you'd hoped? Or worse, someone else has told you that they can't follow it. The Pyramid Principle will show you how to communicate your ideas clearly and succinctly.

With an Afterword by
François Truffaut

With a new Introduction by
Agnes Catherine Poirier

'A perfect hymn to love and perhaps to life'
François Truffaut

'The most bizarre and delicious of travel books'   Observer

Translated by
J. A. Underwood

With an Introduction by
Amit Choudhuri

'There has been no more original, no more serious, critic and reader in our time'
George Steiner

'More than 300 million people in the world speak English and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to...'

Why are some words rude and others aren't? Why can launching into expletives be so shocking - and sometimes so amusing?

Common Errors in English is a simple and practical guide to...