The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities by Paul Anthony Jones

The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities by Paul Anthony Jones ISBN-13: 9780226646701 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: University of Chicago Press Released: Oct. 7, 2019

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Open The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities and you’ll find both a word and a day to remember, every day of the year. Each day has its own dedicated entry, on which a curious or notable event—and an equally curious or notable word—are explored. So whatever date this book has found its way into your hands, there’s an entire year’s worth of linguistic curiosities waiting to be found.

On the day on which flirting was banned in New York City, for instance, you’ll discover why to “sheep’s-eye” someone once meant to look at them amorously. On the day on which a disillusioned San Franciscan declared himself Emperor of the United States, you’ll find the word “mamamouchi,” a term for people who consider themselves more important than they truly are. And on the day on which George Frideric Handel completed his 259-page Messiah after twenty-four days of frenzied work, you’ll see why a French loanword, literally meaning “a small wooden barrow,” is used to refer to an intense period of work undertaken to meet a deadline.


My Review:
The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities is a fun, year-long book of word and history trivia. Each day of the year has an entry, and every entry contains an unusual word along with an event that happened on that day in history which illustrates the word's meaning. So for each day of the year, there's a word and it's meaning and some history of that word--like it's first known use and how the meaning has changed with time. Often the author also included some other words with the same root. Then there's a summary of what happened during the tied-in historical event for that day. The historical events and words come from the Middle Ages up to modern times. The words are no longer in use, though similar words may be still in use.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.