lunes, septiembre 01, 2008

From A to Zyxt: Reading the Oxford English Dictionary




Pinta bien el libro del hombre que se leyó el Oxford English Dictionary en un año. La reseña del New York Times (que vale la pena leerla) dice:

"Shea’s book resurrects many lost, misshapen, beautifully unlucky words — words that spiraled out, like fast-decaying muons, after their tiny moment in the cloud chamber of English usage. There’s hypergelast (a person who won’t stop laughing), lant (to add urine to ale to give it more kick), obmutescence (willful speechlessness) and ploiter (to work to little purpose) — all good words to have on the tip of your tongue when, for example, you’re stopped for speeding.

Shea’s book offers more than exotic word lists, though. It also has a plot. “I feel as though I am eating the alphabet,” he writes halfway through, and you want him to make it to the end. This is the “Super Size Me” of lexicography".

Mas en
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/books/review/Baker-t.html?_r=1&8bu&emc=bu&oref=slogin





READING THE OED

One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages.

By Ammon Shea.

223 pp. Perigee. $21.95.

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