Language: history and general works Books

Did you hear about the two radios that got married? The reception was fantastic. This cheesy-but-grate book is jam-packed with unbearable puns that are so bad, they're good.This collection features over 200 jokes-all puns intended! These are jokes...

‘Fascinating… I loved this book; I really did’ David Crystal, SpectatorA biography of a much misunderstood punctuation mark and a call to arms in favour of clear expression and against stifling grammar rules. Cecelia Watson used to be obsessive about...

There's a TARDIS cookie jar in our kitchen. A Picard air freshener in our car. And we won't even mention Harry Potter in the bathroom. We're geeks and proud of it! But is there nothing for baby? Inconceivable!Introducing 100 First Words for...

Providing comfort food and inspiration for the aspiring novelist, How To Write a Novel in 20 Pies offers novelist and writing coach Amy Wallen’s insider secrets on living the writing life. Filled with chapters about writing, revising, submitting to an...

The English language is riddled with phrases that are complete nonsense. Ever met "a monkey's uncle," seen a "red-handed" thief, or "put a sock in it" when asked? You knows the real meaning of these common expressions, but do you know where, why, and how...

The first comprehensive guide to humour in the age of the internet and social media, this book makes the reader laugh (for the examples) while also engrossing them for its rigorous scholarship.The book shows how humour has changed since the advent of the...

Brit Speak for Yanks!Back in 1887, Oscar Wilde wrote, "We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language." One would think, in a world homogenized by technology and social media, that differences between British...

Pronunciation governs our regional and social identity more powerfully than any other aspect of spoken language. No wonder, then, that it has attracted most attention from satirists. In this intriguing book, David Crystal shows how our feelings about...