Horrible Words
  • Published: 18 April 2017
  • ISBN: 9780141978970
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 224
  • RRP: $24.99

Horrible Words

Formats & editions
EBook
31 Mar 2016
Paperback
18 Apr 2017
Buy from…
Amazon Booktopia Dymocks QBD Readings Your Bookstore Abbeys Boomerang Find local retailers Find local retailers Collins Fishpond Gleebooks Harry Hartog Kinokuniya Robinsons The Nile Mighty Ape

A brilliant history and witty guide to the English language, masquerading as mischievous advice on its misuse and abuse

Nothing enflames the language gripers like a misplaced disinterested, an illogical irregardless, a hideous operationalisation. To a purist these are 'howlers' and 'non-words', fit only for scorn. But in their rush to condemn such terms, are the nay-sayers missing something? In this provocative and hugely entertaining book, Rebecca Gowers throws light on a vast array of horrible words, and shows how the diktats of the pedants are repeatedly based on misinformation, false reasoning and straight-up snobbery. The result is a brilliant work of history, a surreptitious introduction to linguistics, and a mischievous salute to the misusers of the language.
  • Published: 18 April 2017
  • ISBN: 9780141978970
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 224
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

Also by Rebecca Gowers

Plain Words
Plain Words
See all

Praise for Horrible Words

A great delight

David Crystal

Gowers is fierce, funny and staggeringly well informed

Alan Connor, Mail on Sunday

Stuffed with entertaining detail ... Horrible Words is lively, provocative, witty and enlightening

The Times

Exuberant and stimulating ... erudite, informative and fun

Financial Times

A very useful book, packed with good historical sense

Lynne Truss, The Times

A joy - informative and irreverent

Caroline Taggart

Witty and erudite ... A splendid antidote to small-minded pedantry

Robbie Millen, The Times

Will have you enraptured by etymology ... Hugely enjoyable

Reader's Digest

Witty ... wry ... As a heretic, Gowers cuts a formidable figure

The Times Literary Supplement
penguin pop image
penguin pop image