Alphabetter Juice: Or, the Joy of Text - Hardcover

Blount, Roy, Jr.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374103704 ISBN 13: 9780374103705

Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books, 2011

Synopsis

Fresh-squeezed Lexicology, with Twists

No man of letters savors the ABC’s, or serves them up, like language-loving humorist Roy Blount Jr. His glossary, fromad hominy to zizz, is hearty, full bodied, and out to please discriminating palates coarse and fine. In 2008, he celebrated the gists, tangs, and energies of letters and their combinations inAlphabet Juice, to wide acclaim. Now, Alphabetter Juice. Which is better.

This book is for anyone—novice wordsmith, sensuous reader, or career grammarian—who loves to get physical with words. What is the universal sign of disgust,ew, doing in beautiful and cutie? Why is toadless, but notfrogless, in the Oxford English Dictionary? How can the U. S. Supreme Court find relevance ingollywoddles? Might there be scientific evidence for the sonicky value of hunch? And why would someone not bother to spell correctly the very word he is trying to define on Urbandictionary.com?

Digging into how locutions evolve, and work, or fail, Blount draws upon everything fromThe Tempest to The Wire. He takes us to Iceland, for salmon-watching with a “girl gillie,” and to Georgian England, where a distinguished etymologist bites off more of a “giantess” than he can chew. Jimmy Stewart appears, in connection withkludge and the bombing of Switzerland. Litigation over supercalifragilisticexpialidociousleads to a vintage werewolf movie; news of possum-tossing, to metanarrative.

As Michael Dirda wrote in The Washington Post Book World, “The immensely likeable Blount clearly possesses what was called in the Italian Renaissance ‘sprezzatura,’ that rare and enviable ability to do even the most difficult things without breaking a sweat.” Alphabetter Juice is brimming with sprezzatura. Have a taste.

About this title

Review:

“Grand fun.” —Jack Shafer, "The New York Times Book Review" “If your eyes have only skimmed over the long subtitle of "Alphabet Juice" and just vaguely registered that the book has something to do with words, please go back and read the entire subtitle again, slowly. This time listen to the syncopation of the clauses, as well as the alliterative music of the p’s and t’s, then note the juxtaposition of high and low style (‘combinations thereof,’ ‘innards’), the punchy yet unexpected nouns (‘gists,’ ‘pips’), that touch of genteel sexual innuendo (‘secret parts’), and the concluding flourish of the gustatory. Like Roy Blount Jr. himself, his new book's subtitle neatly balances real learning with easy-loping charm.” —Michael Dirda, "The" "Washington"" Post" “Quotes, quips, euphemisms, rhymes and rhythms, literary references (‘Lo-lee-ta’) and puns

"Grand fun." --Jack Shafer, "The New York Times Book Review" "If your eyes have only skimmed over the long subtitle of "Alphabet Juice" and just vaguely registered that the book has something to do with words, please go back and read the entire subtitle again, slowly. This time listen to the syncopation of the clauses, as well as the alliterative music of the p's and t's, then note the juxtaposition of high and low style ('combinations thereof, ' 'innards'), the punchy yet unexpected nouns ('gists, ' 'pips'), that touch of genteel sexual innuendo ('secret parts'), and the concluding flourish of the gustatory. Like Roy Blount Jr. himself, his new book's subtitle neatly balances real learning with easy-loping charm." --Michael Dirda, "The" "Washington"" Post" "Quotes, quips, euphemisms, rhymes and rhythms, literary references ('Lo-lee-ta') and puns: "The lowest form of wit, it used to be said, but that was before Ann Coulter." Throughout, the usage advice is sage and also fun, since the

Praise for "Alphabet Juice: " "The immensely likeable Blount clearly possesses what was called in the Italian Renaissance 'sprezzatura, ' that rare and enviable ability to do even the most difficult things without breaking a sweat." --Michael Dirda, "The Washington Post"

"Blount's selection of words is particularly 'sonicky' and is accompanied by amusing facts and anecdotes and crazy stories that show the peculiarities of etymology and definitions and the deep and abiding beauty of words. Writers and readers will love this book."--"Booklist""" "The humorist and panelist on public radio's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me pours a tall glass of wordplay, witticism, curmudgeonry, and anecdote in this beguiling follow-up to "Alphabet Juice." . . Blount's hilarious collection of riffs and raves adds up to a cantankerous ode to the English language in all its shambling grace." --"Publishers Weekly" (starred review)

Blount's selection of words is particularly 'sonicky' and is accompanied by amusing facts and anecdotes and crazy stories that show the peculiarities of etymology and definitions and the deep and abiding beauty of words. Writers and readers will love this book. "Booklist"

The humorist and panelist on public radio's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me pours a tall glass of wordplay, witticism, curmudgeonry, and anecdote in this beguiling follow-up to "Alphabet Juice." . . Blount's hilarious collection of riffs and raves adds up to a cantankerous ode to the English language in all its shambling grace. "Publishers Weekly (starred review)""

Blount's selection of words is particularly 'sonicky' and is accompanied by amusing facts and anecdotes and crazy stories that show the peculiarities of etymology and definitions and the deep and abiding beauty of words. Writers and readers will love this book. Booklist

The humorist and panelist on public radio's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me pours a tall glass of wordplay, witticism, curmudgeonry, and anecdote in this beguiling follow-up to Alphabet Juice. . . Blount's hilarious collection of riffs and raves adds up to a cantankerous ode to the English language in all its shambling grace. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"

"Blount's selection of words is particularly 'sonicky' and is accompanied by amusing facts and anecdotes and crazy stories that show the peculiarities of etymology and definitions and the deep and abiding beauty of words. Writers and readers will love this book." --Booklist

"The humorist and panelist on public radio's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me pours a tall glass of wordplay, witticism, curmudgeonry, and anecdote in this beguiling follow-up to Alphabet Juice. . . Blount's hilarious collection of riffs and raves adds up to a cantankerous ode to the English language in all its shambling grace." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About the Author:

Roy Blount Jr. is the author of twenty-one previous books, covering subjects from the Pittsburgh Steelers to Robert E. Lee to what dogs are thinking. He is a regular panelist on NPR’sWait, Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me! and is a member of the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel. Born in Indianapolis and raised in Decatur, Georgia, Blount now lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, the painter Joan Griswold.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0374103704
• ISBN 13: 9780374103705
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 283