“Young people these days are exposed to an almost constant stream of the written word... When I was a lad, in the 1980s, we communicated by phone and watched television. I never wrote a single word to anybody of my own age, except perhaps to pass notes in class... But the internet and the mobile phone have changed all that – despite what you might believe if you read certain newspaper columnists who fulminate against the effects of technology on the written world. ”
—Mark Forsyth, author of The Horologicon, The Sunday Times, October 2012.
Preparing for my 2013 book challenge. Number, as of yet, unspecified.
Books I have bought in the past twenty-four hours and am SUPER exicted to read:
- One on One, by Craig Brown. Probably the book that I’m most excited to read. Such a clever idea.
- The Etymologicon, by Mark Forsyth
- The Horologicon, by Mark Forsyth. Both of these Mark Forsyth books look incredible - I saw a review of The Horologicon on booksandquills, and have been dying to read the pair since.
- The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson. Seen some brilliant reviews for this. Looks pretty interesting.
- Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. To be quite honest, I’m just intrigued as to what all the fuss is about.
- Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan
Books I am contemplating buying:
- Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
- Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Like a kid in ye olde sweetmeat shoppe when I stumbled upon this article...
New book built around working days reveals host of absurd yet evocative English words waiting to be discoveredBy MARK FORSYTH
PUBLISHED: 21:07 EST, 28 October 2012 | UPDATED: 05:54 EST, 29 October 2012
dailymail.co.uk
As a nation, we are blessed with a language that is ripe with glorious, old-fashioned words that have, regret-tably, long since passed out of common use.
Gems such as lollygagging (spending time aimlessly), mumbudget (to keep quiet) and conny wabble (a mixture of eggs and brandy). But how on earth do you find one of these expressions when you need it?
In a magical new book, serialised all this week in the Mail, MARK FORSYTH unveils a selection of those obsolete, but oh-so-wonderful words, arranged according to the hours of a typical working day, and the various situations in which you might just find yourself reaching for one…
His new book will be serialized this week. His first article here.
