Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)
Word Play by Peter Farb
Add Word Play to bookshelf
Add to Bookshelf

Look Inside

Word Play

What Happens When People Talk

What Happens When People Talk

By Peter Farb

By Peter Farb

By Peter Farb

By Peter Farb

Best Seller

Category: Reference

Category: Reference

Paperback $21.00

Mar 31, 1993 | ISBN 9780679734086

Ebook $5.99

Aug 19, 2015 | ISBN 9781101971291

All Formats
+
    Word Play by Peter Farb
    Paperback $21.00
    Mar 31, 1993 | ISBN 9780679734086

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    See All Formats (1) +
    • $21.00

      Mar 31, 1993 | ISBN 9780679734086

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Aug 19, 2015 | ISBN 9781101971291

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy the Ebook:

    About Word Play

    Why do certain words make us blush or wince? Why do men and women really speak different languages? Why do nursery rhymes in vastly different societies possess similar rhyme and rhythm patterns? What do slang, riddles and puns secretly have in common?

    This erudite yet irresistibly readable book examines the game of language: its players, strategies, and hidden rules. Drawing on the most fascinating linguistic studies—and touching on everything from the Marx Brothers to linguistic sexism, from the phenomenon of glossolalia to Apache names for automobile parts—Word Play shows what really happens when people talk, no matter what language they happen to be using.

    About Word Play

    Why do certain words make us blush or wince? Why do men and women really speak different languages? Why do nursery rhymes in vastly different societies possess similar rhyme and rhythm patterns? What do slang, riddles and puns secretly have in common?

    This erudite yet irresistibly readable book examines the game of language: its players, strategies, and hidden rules. Drawing on the most fascinating linguistic studies—and touching on everything from the Marx Brothers to linguistic sexism, from the phenomenon of glossolalia to Apache names for automobile parts—Word Play shows what really happens when people talk, no matter what language they happen to be using.

    About Peter Farb

    Peter Farb’s early work in the comparative study of Mediterranean languages, as well as his research collecting folk ballads and various styles of speech in isolated communities in the American South, led to a distinguished career in anthropological linguistics, where… More about Peter Farb

    About Peter Farb

    Peter Farb’s early work in the comparative study of Mediterranean languages, as well as his research collecting folk ballads and various styles of speech in isolated communities in the American South, led to a distinguished career in anthropological linguistics, where… More about Peter Farb

    Product Details

    Category: Reference

    Paperback | $21.00
    Published by Vintage
    Mar 31, 1993 | 384 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780679734086

    Category: Reference

    Ebook | $5.99
    Published by Vintage
    Aug 19, 2015 | 384 Pages | ISBN 9781101971291

    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Praise

    “A captivating, almost entirely unpedantic book . . . solidly founded in scholarship, love of language, and an unabashed worldliness about play itself.” —Washington Post

    “Absorbing . . . so curious, amusing, and enlightening . . . we almost inadvertently learn a great deal about linguistics. [But] it seems scarcely to matter what we’ve learned . . . we’ve simply had too much fun.” —The New York Times

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Raise kids who love to read

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read

    Today's Top Books

    Today's Top Books

    Want to know what people are actually reading right now?

         An online magazine for today’s home cook

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook