“A colorful, thematic history of the English language . . . a fine choice for libraries and a ‘smorgasbord’ for language aficionados. Highly recommended.�

“We think of English as a fortress to be defended, but a better analogy is to think of English as a child. We love and nurture it into being, and once it gain

The author of Opening Up draws on groundbreaking research in computational linguistics to explain what our language choices reveal about feelings, self-concept

We love books. We take them to bed with us. They weigh down our suitcases on holiday. We display them on our bookshelves, give them as gifts, write our names in

Word-lovers rejoice! This fascinating book reveals the amazing and bizarre histories of language's building blocks. "A sorcerer of language".--"Publishers Weekl