Book recommendation

[elbales]

Your Mother's Tongue: A Book of European Invective, by Stephen Burgen

It's out of print, so you'd have to order it from Amazon or suchlike. Screamingly funny look at bad words in many European languages. Learn why calling a Brit buddy a bastard is no big deal, while saying it to an Italian friend is likely to get your face smashed in. Find out how to start a riot in 20 different languages! Whee!

Comments

[phreid.livejournal.com]

Cool. And if you can't find that, try "Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson, or "Made in America" also by Bryson. Yes, I'm a word-geek.

[elbales]

Bryson's book is a bit different in tone from this one. Plus apparently lots of language authorities (linguists and such) think Mother Tongue is loaded with inaccuracies. That thing about eleventy-something words for snow in the Eskimo language? Unless I'm greatly mistaken, it's an urban legend... and they're not properly called Eskimos anymore, either. That said, I enjoyed the book, even if the Eskimo-snow thing did make me cringe.

[phreid.livejournal.com]

really? alas. And yeah, the eskimo thing is... never cited very well. Randomly, have you read anything by Willy Ley? I enjoyed his Exotic Zoology, and I'm wondering if his technical works are similarly enjoyable. I think he dates from the Space Race.