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Good Reading : March 2012
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good reading march 2012 49 March 2012 main in arsie-versie or arsy-varsy (‘upside down’, ‘backside foremost’), which was popular in the 1500s and is still heard today. It was a jocular adaptation of vice versa (versa being pronounced ‘varsa’ in the 16th century). Part of the uncertainty is that usage varies around the English-speaking world. The replacement of arse by ass in American English, universally encountered through US films and television programmes, has resulted in both forms becoming used in British English. A Brit who would never say arse in polite conversation might well use the intensifying I was working my ass off or talk about someone as being a smart-ass . We have to be especially careful when it comes to the adjective arsy. In Britain, the word means ‘bad tempered’ or ‘arrogant’, as in We get the occasional arsy customer in here. In Australia, the word has developed a positive meaning, ‘lucky’: That was an arsy goal. It’s wise to pay special attention to who’s speaking before deciding what to make of You’re an arsy bastard! The Story of English in 100 Words by David Crystal is published by Profile, rrp $29.99. See page 36 for a review of the book. book bitE 3 SARAH MINNS writes about a miracle JoSepHINe peNNIcott’S Poet’s Cottage A reader’s oxford tHe FIRSt edItIoN book club on sale 30 March pre-OrDer YOUr COpY NOW! neXT iSSUe Other bOOks bY DaviD CrYstal David crystal is the world’s leading expert on the English language. he is the author, co-author or editor of more than 120 books, including how Language Works; Begat: The King James Bible and the English language and Txting: The gr8 db8. This last book is crystal’s take on the non-standard forms of English used on the internet and in mobile phone text messages. While his contemporaries harrumphed that such radically transformed forms of English pointed to the rapid decline of the language, crystal took a more optimistic view and showed that almost every principle that critics of ‘text speak’ held proved to be false. Only 10 per cent of words in text messages proved to be misspelt, and children who texted frequently turned out to be better spellers than their counterparts who texted less frequently. (OUP, $27.95) crystal’s 2011 book Begat: The King James Bible and the English language was published in the 400th anniversary year of the first publication of that hugely influential and widely admired version of the Bible. In this readable book, crystal shows how numerous everyday phrases – ‘ Let there be light’, ‘a fly in the ointment’, ‘New wine in old bottles’, ‘how are the mighty fallen’, ‘The salt of the earth’ – all derived from the King James Bible and have since attained idiomatic status. religion may, according to some pundits, be on the slide to irrelevance in Western society, but here crystal shows how expressions in this Bible still influence our language and turn up in the work of advertisers, movie scripts and in the lyrics of hip-hop artists. (OUP, $17.95) and if you’ve always thought you should read Shakespeare but have been put off by the ancient and – let’s be frank – often impenetrable language, then keep Shakespeare’s Words: a Glossary and language companion by your side as you read the works of the world’s most revered playwright. Written by crystal and his actor son, Ben, it contains nearly 14 000 words and their accompanying definitions. It’s ideal for students, actors or anyone just plain curious to find out why such a fuss has been made about this writer for the last 400 years. If you’re new to Shakespeare, then crystal’s list of 100 frequently encountered words will prove very handy. add to this the plot summaries, diagrams indicating the interactions of characters and 16 appendixes offering brief descriptions of historical places, people and foreign terms not found in the alphabetical section, and you’ll soon be able to crack the Shakespeare code and get your ticket to enter the world of the man widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. (Penguin, $39.95) 48_49_bookbite3_c.indd 49 8/2/12 10:42:49 PM
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