Secret Life of Words

“A colorful, thematic history of the English language . . . a fine choice for libraries and a ‘smorgasbord’ for language aficionados. Highly recommended.” —E. L. Battistella, Choice

Words are essential to our everyday lives. An average person spends his or her day enveloped in conversations, e-mails, phone calls, text messages, directions, headlines, and more. But how often do we stop to think abou...