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The World in so Many Words - A Country-By-Country Tour of Words That Have Shaped Our Language
by Metcalf, Allan
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- New in New dust jacket
- ISBN 10
- 0395959209
- ISBN 13
- 9780395959206
- Seller
-
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Houghton Mifflin Company. New in New dust jacket. 1999. First Edition. Hardcover. 0395959209 . This specific hardback book is in new condition with a hard board cover that has sharp edges and corners and has a tight binding. The pages are clean, crisp, unmarked and uncreased. The dust jacket is in new condition with no discernible wear. We package all books in custom cardboard book boxes for shipment and ship daily with tracking numbers.; "An international tour of words that have shaped the English language explores the etymology of words such as paradise, siesta, geyser, justice, tattoo, and zombie, revealing their often fascinating origins in foreign cultures."; 5.5 X 1 X 8.5 inches; 298 pages .
Synopsis
"Biblically speaking, the first paradise was the Garden of Eden. But linguistically speaking, it was a Persian amusement park. Or, more precisely, it was the walled park of a Persian ruler or noble, observed more than two thousand years ago by a young Greek named Xenophon." Allan A. Metcalf shows us paradise and a whole lot more in his whirlwind tour of languages that have made contributions to our own. Starting in Europe, the original home of English, he takes us around the world, country by country, language by language. We see a geyser in Iceland, take a siesta in Spain, and receive justice in Italy. In Africa we feel the warm harmarttan wind, visit an Egyptian oasis, and learn about mysterious voodoo. We travel to northern India, where we seek the elusive goat antelope called the serow; to icy Tibet, where the even more elusive yeti dwells unseen among the rocks; to Tahiti, where we get a tattoo; to Samoa, where we are shown how to cover it up with a lavalava. We encounter buccaneers from Brazil and Paraguay, caciques from Guyana and Surinam, bunyips from Australia, and zombies from Congo. As experienced on Metcalf's tour, the English language is more wonderful and exotic than you've ever imagined -- a truly multicultural language for a multicultural world.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Dr. Bookman - All Books Tightly Packaged in Cardboard
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 26380
- Title
- The World in so Many Words - A Country-By-Country Tour of Words That Have Shaped Our Language
- Author
- Metcalf, Allan
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- New
- Edition
- First Edition
- ISBN 10
- 0395959209
- ISBN 13
- 9780395959206
- Publisher
- Houghton Mifflin Company
- Place of Publication
- Boston
- Date Published
- 1999
- Keywords
- 0395959209, Words, Language Studies, Words From Around the World, World Word Tour, Linguistics
Terms of Sale
Dr. Bookman - All Books Tightly Packaged in Cardboard
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Dr. Bookman - All Books Tightly Packaged in Cardboard
Biblio member since 2009
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
About Dr. Bookman - All Books Tightly Packaged in Cardboard
We have an eclectic array of used and out of print books for you in our inventory. Service is key to our relationship with you. You get \"Old School\" service with Dr. Bookman. We can\'t look at each other in the eye, shake each others hand, or walk into the shop the next day if we\'re disatisfied. I understand that vulnerability. You are purchasing a product sight unseen. That means I must be honest with you about exactly what you are buying. You might find my descriptions more detailed than most others, but when purchasing online, I want you to know exactly what you\'re buying. I don\'t want you to feel surprised when you open the box. And by the way, almost all of our books are shipped in cardboard packaging designed just for books. That means you get it the way it left here.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Crisp
- A term often used to indicate a book's new-like condition. Indicates that the hinges are not loosened. A book described as crisp...
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