{"id":11079,"date":"2015-04-30T07:08:52","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T06:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.richardlittledale.co.uk\/?p=11079"},"modified":"2015-04-30T07:23:42","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T06:23:42","slug":"if-words-were-calories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/2015\/04\/30\/if-words-were-calories\/","title":{"rendered":"If words were calories&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>A review of Word Drops by Paul Anthony Jones<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>If words were calories, this book would have you breaking the scales. To\u00a0support my outrageous claim I refer you to urban legends which assert that certain brands of savoury snacks have <em>&#8216;something in them&#8217;<\/em> which makes the\u00a0brain crave more and more until the whole packet is gone. Whatever that <em>something<\/em> is, Paul Anthony Jones has imbibed plenty of it before compiling this endearing little book.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s be honest, quirky word compendiums are as numerous as the dictionaries upon which they draw. What makes this book unique is the way in which it is put together. Take, for example, the following set of entries:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Casablanca<\/em> means &#8216;white house&#8217;.<\/li>\n<li>In the nineteenth century, shoemakers were nicknamed <em>ambassadors of Morocco.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>The <em>Atlantic Ocean<\/em> is named after the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.<\/li>\n<li>Ocean derives from <em>okeanos<\/em>, the name of a great river the Ancient Greeks believed encircled the Earth.<\/li>\n<li>An <em>epirot<\/em> is someone who lives nowhere near the coast.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you can see, they have been arranged in such a way that each leads to the next, which leads to the next and so on. Like the crisps in the packet, each snaps with a satisfying crunch in the brain and has you reaching for the next one.<\/p>\n<p>The book can be consumed at numerous levels, since some entries are one-liners, whereas others give more explanation for those who would like it. It can be dipped into, to see what comes out of the packet next, or you can line all the verbal snacks up in a row and consume them like linguistic dominoes. If you are <em>logofascinated<\/em> (&#8216;spellbound by language&#8217;, according to the book) you may find it very hard to tear yourself away.<\/p>\n<p>This book is no more a serious etymological reference work\u00a0than my packet of crisps is a Michelin-starred meal. It is a treat for the curious mind, and should be read as such. If you are interested, I suggest you do not <em>perendinate<\/em> (couldn&#8217;t resist) but buy a copy today.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11080\" style=\"width: 274px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Word-Drops-Sprinkling-Linguistic-Curiosities\/dp\/1783961538%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAI34QXWAWM4UFFVPA%26tag%3Ddrupal0a-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D1783961538\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11080\" class=\"wp-image-11080 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/archive.richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/munch-264x300.jpg\" alt=\"SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES\" width=\"264\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/munch-264x300.jpg 264w, http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/munch-900x1024.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 264px) 100vw, 264px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-11080\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sorry about the copy, Ellliot and Thompson &#8211; click on image to buy an intact one<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A review of Word Drops by Paul Anthony Jones If words were calories, this book would have you breaking the scales. To\u00a0support my outrageous claim I refer you to urban legends which assert that certain brands of savoury snacks have &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/2015\/04\/30\/if-words-were-calories\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11079"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11079"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11082,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11079\/revisions\/11082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}