The Secret Life of Words

“A colorful, thematic history of the English language . . . a fine choice for libraries and a ‘smorgasbord’ for language aficionados. Highly recommended.” —E. L. Battistella,  Choice Words are essential to our everyday lives. An average person spends his or her day enveloped in conversations, e-mails, phone calls, text messages, directions, headlines, and more. But how often do we stop to think about the origins of the words we use? Have you ever thought about which words in English have be