What’s the connection between mortgage & mortician? How about the links between maneuver & manure? pencil & penis? dictator & dictionary? or rectitude & rectum?
Word lovers will find the answers to such questions in Murray Suid’s Words of a Feather, a zany, fact-filled collection of dual etymologies.
Probing the shared histories of pairs such as adversary & advertisement and cosmos & cosmetics, Words of a Feather transforms the science of etymology into a fun and powerful vocabulary-building game.
By the time readers finish the book, they’ll be able to dazzle their friends with knowledge about word origins and how English came to own the world’s vastest vocabulary thanks to borrowing from Greek, Latin, Old English, German, French, Spanish, Yiddish, and scores of other languages. Readers will also learn how to make their own etymological discoveries.
But there’s more. Words of a Feather goes beyond the peculiarities of linguistics to provide practical advice on a variety of subjects. For example, the thank & think entry gives a mini-lesson on how to make kids smarter while polishing their manners. The anger & angina mini-essay might actually save a few lives. Or at least bring on a few smiles. Check out an excerpt (pdf format) and our blog.

Price: $14.95
Pages:160
Size: 5 x 7
ISBN: 978-0-07-147721-5
Publisher: McGraw-Hill

The following sites were useful in the research for this book:
Bartleby.com
Expressions & Sayings
Online Etymology Dictionary