War words have embedded themselves in our collective psyche; British politicians are fond of invoking the ‘Dunkirk spirit’ whenever the country is faced with major crisis or even minor adversity, and Roosevelt’s famous description of Pearl Harbor as ‘a date which will live in infamy’ was echoed by many US commentators after the 9/11 attacks. So far, so familiar. Or is it? How many of us know, for instance, that ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’, far from achieving its morale-boosting aim, was considered at the time to be deeply patronizing by the people it was directed at, and so had only limited distribution? The Word at War explores 100 phrases spawned and popularized in the lead-up and during the conflict of World War Two. Substantial essays explore and explain the derivations of, and the stories behind, popular terms and phraseology of the period, including wartime speeches (and the words of Churchill, Hitler and FDR); service slang; national stereotypes; food and drink; and codewords.
Les mer
This eloquent pair of authors are a language lover's dream. The book captures the pugnacious parlance of wartime in all its oxymorons, its inventive acronyms, its clever rhetoric, its racy slang and its appalling euphemisms. There are surprises, too: humour, sexiness and neology: Jeep, SPAM, flak, kamikaze and mega, to name a few linguistic creations. The enduring semantic legacy, over seven decades, teaches us a lot about how we communicate in a crisis; something that’s particularly pertinent today.
Les mer
An original take on a familiar subject, this book explains how the language of war, at home and abroad, came to pervade our everyday speech.
From the authors of Idiomantics and following the same successful short essay format, the book is packed with reliable and intriguing information without being presented in the form of a traditional linear history – ideal for dipping in and out of. This would be an ideal gift for word buffs and anyone interested in World War II.
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781472922489
Publisert
2015-07-30
Utgiver
Vendor
Bloomsbury Information
Vekt
254 gr
Høyde
198 mm
Bredde
129 mm
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
256

Biographical note

Philip Gooden read English at Magdalen College, Oxford, and then taught at secondary school level for many years. In 2001 he became a full-time writer. Philip writes books on the English language as well as historical crime novels and mysteries. He was chairman of the Crime Writers’ Association in 2007-8 and is part of the writing collective, The Medieval Murderers. He has also written the popular Who's Whose?: A No-Nonsense Guide to Easily-Confused Words, published by Bloomsbury. Peter Lewis taught German at St Anne's College, Oxford and worked as a publishing commissioning editor before becoming a freelance translator, writer and project manager. Recent translations include The Mad Science Book (Quercus) and Roman Elegy (Haus Publishing).