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Dr. Goodword is recommending his favorite language books to all our visitors. This room of Dr. Goodword's Bookstore contains his favorite books about words and language. Working in concert with Powell's Books, our shop will bring you the most reliable in language resources and the funniest in language humor.
• Martha Barnett's Words of the Good Life •
Martha Barnett graduated from Vassar College and did graduate work in classical languages at the University of Kentucky. She has worked as an editorial writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal and as a reporter for the Washington Post. She has also written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Glamour, Prevention, Ladies Home Journal, Women's Sports & Fitness, among others.
Martha is a verbivore who has authored three books of histories of words from the most beautiful aspects of life, including A Garden of Words, histories of flower names, Ladyfingers & Nun's Tummies: A Lighthearted Look at How Foods Got Their Names, and Dog Days and Dandelions: A Lively Guide to the Animal Meanings Behind Everyday Words.
Now you enjoy all these great books and help support alphaDictionary at the same time.
A Garden of Wordsby Martha Barnett
$21.50 (explore Powell's for a lower price)
Did you know that the tulip gets its name from a kind of headwear? What's the linguistic link between the lovely gladiolus and a fierce gladiator? A rose by any other name may smell as sweet--but why do we call it a rose? In this charming, witty volume, Martha Barnette leads a tour through the language of the garden, stopping along the way to coax out the many secrets that flowers have to tell about history, culture, psychology, folklore, and science.
Ladyfingers & Nun's TummiesA Lighthearted Look at How Foods Got Their Names
by Martha Barnett
$22.50 (explore Powell's for a lower price)
What naughty joke is tucked inside every loaf of pumpernickel? Why do we call it a Tootsie Roll? How did a drunken brawl lead to the name lobster Newburg? What squiggly creature inspired the name of the pasta called vermicelli? Ladyfingers and Nun's Tummies reveals the surprising stories behind the names we give to the foods we eat. With her witty, engaging style, Martha Barnette serves up a savory feast of history, culture, folklore, and science.
Dog Days and DandelionsA Lively Guide to the Animal Meanings Behind Everday Words
by Martha Barnett
Coming soon!
Coming soon! There are mice in your muscles, and blackbirds in your merlot. Behind adulation is a dog's wagging tail. Peculiar houses a herd of cattle. Grubby is crawling with bugs. Wordhound Martha Barnette collects more than 300 common (and a few not-so-common) words that have surprising animal roots. Tracing word origins back to ancient Greek and Latin as well as to European roots and American slang, the entries offer a guided tour through literature, science, folklore, politics, and more—with a wilderness of animal meanings at every turn.
