Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent unused condition. Date in front. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> I first began to collect words which I considered to be of ‘uncommon usage’ at the time of the first Gulf War in 1990 after the US commander General Norman Schwarzkopf described information which he considered to be of little or no value as ‘bovine scatology. Although I was familiar with the word ‘bovine I had to refer to the dictionary to discover the meaning of ‘scatology. From then on I started to make a note of any words I came across that I was unfamiliar with or that I was unfamiliar with in a specific context and checked their meaning in a dictionary. This ‘collection’ of words which would eventually evolve into Foyle’s Philavery grew rapidly; to these previously unknown words I added new gems pleasing interesting and unusual words both ancient and modern. which attracted my attention in some way and demanded to be remembered. From archaic words like ‘Fastingong’ and ‘hebberman’ which are all but lost to modern ears to dialect terms such as ‘beek’ or ‘sniddle’ which if not lost already may soon suffer the same fate literally hundreds of words came to be recorded. Some particularly evocative words like ‘afflatus’ or ‘crepuscular’ effortlessly conjured up vivid images; playful words with interesting and amusing sounds like ‘funambulist ‘fabiform’ or ‘pungy’ lingered in my memory. I came across words both well- and little-known which like ‘halcyon’ and ‘ultracrepidarian had fascinating and often surprising etymologies. Some uncommon words seemed quite simply to provide a more satisfying and evocative alternative to their more familiar counterparts – ‘amanuensis for secretary. (SP)