Title: Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, … With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory
Author: Roy Blount Jr.
Publication Information: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (October 14, 2008), 384 pps.
Genre: Nonfiction/Words & Language/Etymology/Linguistics
Explanation/Summary:
From the inside cover:
Did you know that both mammal and matter derive from baby talk? Have you noticed how wince makes you wince? Ever wonder why so many h-words have to do with breath?
Roy Blount Jr. certainly has, and after fouty years of making a living using words in every medium, print or electronic, except greeting cards, he still can’t get over his ABCs. In Alphabet Juice, he celebrates the electricity, the juju, the sonic and kinetic energies, of letters and their combinations. Blount does not prescribe proper English. The franchise he claims is “over the counter.”
Three and a half centuries ago, Thomas Blount produced Blount’s Glossographia, the first dictionary to explore derivations of English words. This Blount’s Glossographia takes that pursuit to other levels, from Proto-Indo-European roots to your epiglottis. It rejects the standard linguistic notion that the connection between words and their meanings is “arbitrary.” Even the word arbitrary is shown to be no more arbitrary, at its root, than go-to guy or crackerjack. From sources as venerable as the OED (in which Blount finds an inconsistency, at whisk) and as fresh as Urbandictionary.com (to which Blount has contributed the number-one definition of “alligator arm”), and especially from the author’s own wide-ranging experience, Alphabet Juice derives an organic take on language that is unlike, and more fun than, any other.
Analysis and Evaluation:
Yes, and then some.
The writing is challenging. I didn’t find this an easy read, but I did find it funny, informative, and only slightly annoying.
The strength is the author loves words – which is necessary to write this kind of book. Blount shares his knowledge with plain-spoken wit and humor.
The weakness is that Blount also shares his political views. I know we’ve all heard of “Bush-isms”, the term given to the words spoken when President Bush made errors or slip-ups in his speech, however I do not believe that Republicans are the only ones who make blunders. I’m not certain the author knows this…
This is a good book. I learned much, laughed out loud more than I thought I would, and I’m happy I read it. I’d be even happier if the author could have kept his political commentary to himself.
With reservations. If someone loves words – and is curious about the etymology and history of words, then yes. But if a reader is just looking for an easy fun read – this ain’t your book.
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