What does it mean to talk like an American? According to John Russell Bartlett’s 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms, it means indulging in outlandish slang—splendiferous, scrumptious, higgled
Ostler applies her doctorate in linguistics to entertainingly trace the origin and usage of some 150 distinctly American figures of speech organized into the categories of: the natural world (e.g., "t
Who decided not to split infinitives? With whom should we take issue if in fact, we wish to boldly write what no grammarian hath writ before?In Founding Grammars, Rosemarie Ostler delves into the root
Two Centuries of Scandalous Rumors, Over-the-Top Insults, and Low-Down Slurs. We bemoan the loss of civility in public discourse these days, but mudslinging is an American tradition as old as the re
Lists the meanings and backgrounds of thousands of twentieth-century catch phrases, slang terms, and buzzwords, many of which have fallen out of use, in a volume complemented by historical and sociolo
