Thursday, April 19

Word Watching – Julian Burnside

I found this slender hardback on a remainder table not too long, and have been dipping into the learned J. Burnside Esquire’s “field notes from an amateur philologist” for a few days – it’s the kind of work that lends itself to intermittent perusal rather than rapid progression. Arranged alphabetically (from “All’s well that ends –al”, about nouns that become adjectives, verbs that become nouns, and words that look like one or other but are neither, to “Vestigial remains”, where the origins of words can be found in their modern descendent/s), this book looks at the beauty and evolution of English, with particular attention to the Australian variety. Not surprisingly, given Burnside’s long affiliation with and work for human rights organizations, this includes some damning indictments about the Federal governments’ use of word selection to sway public opinion.
I enjoy reading books about language, but as a result I was already familiar with a few of Burnside’s linguistic revelations. However, all in all it was useful and interesting book that has a place on my reference shelves. - Alex

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