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Fun For Wordsmiths

Fellow blogger Matt of Cerulean Blue, would like to bring a new book to the attention of readers.  He was contacted by author Murray Suid who wanted his book Words of a Feather featured on Matt’s blog. However, Cerulean Blue has now closed shop and Matt has no public venue where he can promote it. As a long time reader and commenter here, he asked me to post the review on A.B. I am happy to oblige because I used to enjoy Matt’s sense of humor and "word twisting" ability when he was writing and the book should be of interest to anyone who is into "words."

Here is Matt’s introduction:

"Linguistic mischief is one of the few things that can make me happy, so I’m in love with a new book called Words of a Feather, by Murray Suid. It provides the etymological history behind a variety of word pairings.  Here’s a bit of the description from the website:

"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."

Oh my. I get all tingly when I read stuff like that. Also, if you think about it, this could possibly be the greatest Christmas gift ever. Smart people love conceptual traipsery of this sort, and the intellectually challenged can boost their IQ with it, so the book’s a suitable gift for anyone.

For the book’s main site click here. There’s even a quiz available here.  Enjoy."
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4 responses to “Fun For Wordsmiths”

  1. m

    Thanks, Ruchira! There just aren’t many other places I can go to talk about playful language. Most blogs are focused one-dimensional, partisan antagonism and AB has always been a nice antidote to all of that, so I thought I’d mention this to you.
    One time I wrote up anagrams on the name of Samuel Alito and the Columbia Journalism Review Online referenced them, referring to Cerulean Blue as a “laptop pundit”. There just aren’t enough wordplay fans out there.
    (by the way, I found the Columbia Review article:
    http://cjrdaily.org/politics/anagram_wars.php
    the author even assumes that people who do anagrams use online generators! Grr).
    matt

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  2. Ruchira Paul

    But Matt, we ARE one dimensionally partisan and antagonistic! Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. :-)
    Did you have any luck with a publisher for the children’s book you wrote with an artist friend?

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  3. m

    AB is partisan, but very, very thoughtful. Most liberal blogs toss out insults and move on. You discuss the issues in a much more nuanced way.
    The kids books is a problem. I can’t seem to write in marketable genre. I may have to write sellable crap in order to gain leverage for the stuff I actually like.

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  4. Anna

    Hey, thanks for the holiday gift suggestion! I know several people, besides myself, who would really enjoy this.
    (Given my own interest in words, I’m embarrassed by how tepidly I performed on the quiz).

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