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Index
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Preface
A short history of English words
1 Roe – the first word (5th century)
2 Lea – naming places (8th century)
3 And – an early abbreviation (8th century)
4 Loaf – an unexpected origin (9th century)
5 Out – changing grammar (9th century)
6 Street – a Latin loan (9th century)
7 Mead – a window into history (9th century)
8 Merry – a dialect survivor (9th century)
9 Riddle – playing with language (10th century)
10 What – an early exclamation (10th century)
11 Bone-house – a word-painting (10th century)
12 Brock – a Celtic arrival (10th century)
13 English – the language named (10th century)
14 Bridegroom – a popular etymology (11th century)
15 Arse – an impolite word (11th century)
16 Swain – a poetic expression (12th century)
17 Pork – an elegant word (13th century)
18 Chattels – a legal word (13th century)
19 Dame – a form of address (13th century)
20 Skirt – a word doublet (13th century)
21 Jail – competing words (13th century)
22 Take away – a phrasal verb (13th century)
23 Cuckoo – a sound-symbolic word (13th century)
24 Cunt – a taboo word (13th century)
25 Wicked – a radical alteration (13th century)
26 Wee – a Scottish contribution (14th century)
27 Grammar – a surprising link (14th century)
28 Valentine – first name into word (14th century)
29 Egg – a dialect choice (14th century)
30 Royal – word triplets (14th century)
31 Money – a productive idiom (14th century)
32 Music – a spelling in evolution (14th century)
33 Taffeta – an early trade word (14th century)
34 Information(s) – (un)countable nouns (14th century)
35 Gaggle – a collective noun (15th century)
36 Doable – a mixing of languages (15th century)
37 Matrix – a word from Tyndale (16th century)
38 Alphabet – talking about writing (16th century)
39 Potato – a European import (16th century)
40 Debt – a spelling reform (16th century)
41 Ink-horn – a classical flood (16th century)
42 Dialect – regional variation (16th century)
43 Bodgery – word-coiners (16th century)
44 Undeaf – a word from Shakespeare (16th century)
45 Skunk – an early Americanism (17th century)
46 Shibboleth – a word from King James (17th century)
47 Bloody – an emerging swear-word (17th century)
48 Lakh – a word from India (17th century)
49 Fopdoodle – a lost word (17th century)
50 Billion – a confusing ambiguity (17th century)
51 Yogurt – a choice of spelling (17th century)
52 Gazette – a taste of journalese (17th century)
53 Tea – a social word (17th century)
54 Disinterested – a confusible (17th century)
55 Polite – a matter of manners (17th century)
56 Dilly-dally – a reduplicating word (17th century)
57 Rep – a clipping (17th century)
58 Americanism – a new nation (18th century)
59 Edit – a back-formation (18th century)
60 Species – classifying things (18th century)
61 Ain’t – right and wrong (18th century)
62 Trek – a word from Africa (19th century)
63 Hello – progress through technology (19th century)
64 Dragsman – thieves’ cant (19th century)
65 Lunch – U or non-U (19th century)
66 Dude – a cool usage (19th century)
67 Brunch – a portmanteau word (19th century)
68 Dinkum – a word from Australia (19th century)
69 Mipela – pidgin English (19th century)
70 Schmooze – a Yiddishism (19th century)
71 OK – debatable origins (19th century)
72 Ology – suffix into word (19th century)
73 Y’all – a new pronoun (19th century)
74 Speech-craft – an Anglo-Saxonism (19th century)
75 DNA – scientific terminology (20th century)
76 Garage – a pronunciation problem (20th century)
77 Escalator – word into name into word (20th century)
78 Robot – a global journey (20th century)
79 UFO – alternative forms (20th century)
80 Watergate – place-name into word (20th century)
81 Doublespeak – weasel words (20th century)
82 Doobry – useful nonsense (20th century)
83 Blurb – a moment of arrival (20th century)
84 Strine – a comic effect (20th century)
85 Alzheimer’s – surname into word (20th century)
86 Grand – money slang (20th century)
87 Mega – prefix into word (20th century)
88 Gotcha – a non-standard spelling (20th century)
89 PC – being politically correct (20th century)
90 Bagonise – a nonce-word (20th century)
91 Webzine – an internet compound (20th century)
92 App – a killer abb (20th century)
93 Cherry-picking – corporate speak (20th century)
94 LOL – netspeak (20th century)
95 Jazz – word of the century (20th century)
96 Sudoku – a modern loan (21st century)
97 Muggle – a fiction word (21st century)
98 Chillax – a fashionable blend (21st century)
99 Unfriend – a new age (21st century)
100 Twittersphere – future directions? (21st century)
Illustration Credits
Word Index
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