{"product_id":"9781429960427","title":"Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, Tinctures, Tonics, and Essences; with Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory","description":"\u003cp\u003eAli G: \u003ci\u003eHow many words does you know?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNoam Chomsky:\u003ci\u003e Normally, humans, by maturity, have tens of thousands of them.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAli G:\u003ci\u003e What is some of 'em?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Da Ali G Show\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eDid you know that both \u003ci\u003emammal \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003ematter \u003c\/i\u003ederive from baby talk? Have you noticed how \u003ci\u003ewince \u003c\/i\u003emakes you wince? Ever wonder why so many h-words have to do with breath?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRoy Blount Jr. certainly has, and after forty 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 \u003ci\u003eAlphabet Juice\u003c\/i\u003e, 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.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThree and a half centuries ago, Thomas Blount produced \u003ci\u003eBlount's Glossographia\u003c\/i\u003e, the first dictionary to explore derivations of English words. \u003ci\u003eThis\u003c\/i\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003earbitrary \u003c\/i\u003eis shown to be no more arbitrary, at its root, than \u003ci\u003ego-to guy \u003c\/i\u003eor \u003ci\u003ecrackerjack\u003c\/i\u003e. From sources as venerable as the \u003ci\u003eOED \u003c\/i\u003e(in which Blount finds an inconsistency, at \u003ci\u003ewhisk\u003c\/i\u003e) 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, \u003ci\u003eAlphabet Juice \u003c\/i\u003ederives an organic take on language that is unlike, and more fun than, any other.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Farrar, Straus and Giroux","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47154119475440,"sku":"9781429960427","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781429960427_p0.jpg?v=1769902800","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781429960427","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}