{"title":"Rosemarie Ostler","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"let-s-talk-turkey-book-rosemarie-ostler-9781591026259","title":"Let's Talk Turkey","description":"Ever wonder what going on the wagon has to do with drinking? Why does extreme behavior take the cake? And did Americans' pocket change ever really include wooden nickels? Many of our most intriguing expressions grew out of once-familiar bits of American culture, the roots of which are now obscure. Respected linguist Rosemarie Ostler demystifies over 150 of these colorful homegrown figures of speech. She traces each saying from its first known appearance in print to its place in modern English, uncovering a host of cultural and historical tidbits along the way.Homegrown metaphors sprang up on American soil almost as fast as the colonists' first bean crop. Just as they learned new farming skills and adjusted to an unfamiliar diet, they shaped their language to fit their new situation. Expressions like to play possum and bury the hatchet are uniquely American -- they would hardly have made sense in the old country, where possums didn't exist and where hatchets were used only for splitting firewood. Ostler explains the rich history of figures of speech that grew out of the landscape and culture of North America.Much more than a list of phrases and definitions, Let's Talk Turkey is a lively and enjoyable exploration of how Americans developed their own inimitable style of speech. Expressions are arranged by cultural categories. These include some of our most bountiful sources for metaphor -- the great outdoors, business, entertainment, politics, cops and robbers, food and drink, and doing chores. The thoroughly researched entries reveal the latest etymological discoveries, along with charming and illustrative quotes.This entertaining, amusing, and very informative reference book is sure to captivate language lovers of all ages, as well as anyone fascinated with the byways and back roads of American lore.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49608677327121,"sku":"GOR003654242","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50419897893137,"sku":"CIN1591026253VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52469728575761,"sku":"GOR011936588","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52817149755665,"sku":"CIN1591026253G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52820253114641,"sku":"NLS9781591026259","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1591026253.jpg?v=1786441688"},{"product_id":"dewdroppers-waldos-and-slackers-book-rosemarie-ostler-9780965809641","title":"Dewdroppers, Waldos, and Slackers","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49658640007441,"sku":"GOR012808117","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0965809641.jpg?v=1751109129"},{"product_id":"united-states-of-english-book-rosemarie-ostler-9780197647295","title":"The United States of English","description":"The story of how English became American -- and how it became Southern, Bostonian, Californian, African-American, Chicano, elite, working-class, urban, rural, and everything in between \n\nBy the time of the Revolution, the English that Americans spoke was recognizably different from the British variety. Americans added dozens of new words to the language, either borrowed from Native Americans (raccoon, persimmon, caucus) or created from repurposed English (backwoods, cane brake, salt lick). Americans had their own pronunciations (bath rhymed with hat, not hot) and their own spelling (honor, not honour), not to mention a host of new expressions that grew out of the American landscape and culture (blaze a trail, back track, pull up stakes). Americans even invented their own slang, like stiff as a ringbolt to mean drunk. American English has continued to grow and change ever since. \n\nThe United States of English tells the engrossing tale of how the American language evolved over four hundred years, explaining both how and why it changed and which parts of the \"mother tongue\" it preserved (I guess was heard in the British countryside long before it became a typical Americanism). Rosemarie Ostler approaches American English as part of the larger story of American history and culture, starting with what we know about the first colonists and their speech. Drawing on the latest research, she explores the roots of regional dialects, the differences between British and American language use, the sources of American slang, the development of African American English, current trends in political language, and much more. Plentiful examples of the American vernacular, past and present, bring the language to life and make for an engaging as well as enlightening read.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49742953906449,"sku":"NGR9780197647295","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346316562705,"sku":"CIN0197647294G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50999865803025,"sku":"NIN9780197647295","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":52902444663057,"sku":"CIN0197647294LN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0197647294.jpg?v=1786094398"},{"product_id":"founding-grammars-book-rosemarie-ostler-9781250046123","title":"Founding Grammars","description":"\u003cp\u003eWho decided not to split infinitives? With whom should we take issue if in fact, we wish to boldly write what no grammarian hath writ before? \u003cbr\u003eIn\u0026gt;\u003ci\u003eFounding Grammars, \u003c\/i\u003eRosemarie Ostler delves into the roots of our grammar obsession to answer these questions and many more. Standard grammar and accurate spelling are widely considered hallmarks of a good education, but their exact definitions are much more contentious - capable of inciting a full-blown grammar war at the splice of a comma, battles readily visible in the media and online in the comments of blogs and chat rooms. With an accessible and enthusiastic journalistic approach, Ostler considers these grammatical shibboleths, tracing current debates back to America's earliest days, an era when most families owned only two books - the Bible and a grammar primer. Along the way, she investigates colorful historical characters on both sides of the grammar debate in her efforts to unmask the origins of contemporary speech. Linguistic founding fathers like Noah Webster, Tory expatriate Lindley Murray, and post-Civil War literary critic Richard Grant White, all play a featured role in creating the rules we've come to use, and occasionally discard, throughout the years. \u003ci\u003eFounding Grammars\u0026gt;\u003c\/i\u003eis for curious readers who want to know where grammar rules have come from, where they've been, and where they might go next.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50022384206097,"sku":"CIN1250046122G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51270928990481,"sku":"CIN1250046122VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1250046122.jpg?v=1750920724"},{"product_id":"vanished-vocabulary-obsolete-words-from-the-twenieth-century-book-rosemarie-ostler-9780195161465","title":"Vanished Vocabulary Obsolete Words from the Twenieth Century","description":"Ever encountered a blatherskite? How about a darb? When was the last time you got the straight skinny at a rap session or told someone to keep on truckin'? How many once-popular American words aren't you using these days? Quite a few, if you're like most people. Thousands of words and expressions entered American English between 1900 and 1999. Every era from the \"Roaring Twenties\" to the \"Me Decade\" brought its own fads and trends and the language to go with them: fresh youth slang, up-to-the-minute buzzwords, and colorful catch phrases. Most of this new vocabulary exploded into the vernacular, only to fizzle a few years later as trendier trends and more current events demanded new terminology. Giving yesterday's words another chance to sparkle before they retire to the archives for good, Dewdroppers, Waldos, and Slackers focuses on language that still resonates with the mood of its times. These are words that most Americans would once have recognized, if not actually used. Nothing says Sixties like groovy, even though this resilient piece of slang was heard as early as the 1940s, lingered into the 1970s, and amazingly, is making a twenty-first century comeback. A nostalgic word trip through the highs and lows of American English from the last century, this book pays special attention to words that enjoyed a brief vogue only to end up abandoned and nearly forgotten: one-reelers, bulls, jet jockeys, keypunch operators, the bugged-out and the slackers. They all have a place in this book in engaging essays--arranged by decade--that put these words in their historical and sociological context. The twentieth century is over, but we can still appreciate the words we left behind.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50134771138833,"sku":"GOR013866971","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50345434546449,"sku":"CIN0195161467G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50517030666513,"sku":"CIN0195161467VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0195161467.jpg?v=1751164305"},{"product_id":"dewdroppers-waldos-and-slackers-book-rosemarie-ostler-9780195182545","title":"Dewdroppers, Waldos, and Slackers","description":"A nostalgic word trip through the highs and lows of American English from the last century, this book pays special attention to words that enjoyed a brief vogue only to end up abandoned and nearly forgotten: jet jockeys, keypunch operators, the bugged-out and the slackers.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50345450373393,"sku":"CIN0195182545G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50555080573201,"sku":"GOR003103624","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50999823499537,"sku":"NIN9780195182545","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52342047736081,"sku":"NLS9780195182545","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53156560077073,"sku":"CIN0195182545VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0195182545.jpg?v=1786089074"},{"product_id":"slinging-mud-book-rosemarie-ostler-9780399536915","title":"Slinging Mud","description":"\u003cb\u003eTwo Centuries of Scandalous Rumors, Over-the-Top Insults, and Low-Down Slurs.\u003c\/b\u003e We bemoan the loss of civility in public discourse these days, but mudslinging is an American tradition as old as the republic. Not everyone admired the Father of Our Country. President Washington's enemies called him a cheapskate, a hyena, a horse beater, a spoiled child, and a tyrannical monster, among other epithets. \"You are utterly incapable to steer the political ship,\" wrote one outraged critic.\u003cbr\u003e And so it has gone ever since. 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According to John Russell Bartlett's 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms, it means indulging in outlandish slang-splendiferous, scrumptious, higgeldy piggedly-and free-and-easy word creation-demoralize, lengthy, gerrymander. American English is more than just vocabulary, though. It's a picturesque way of talking that includes expressions like go the whole hog, and the wild boasts of frontiersman Davy Crockett, who claimed to be half horse, half alligator, and a touch of the airthquake. Splendiferous Speech explores the main sources of the American vernacular-the expanding western frontier, the bumptious world of politics, and the sensation-filled pages of popular nineteenth-century newspapers. It's a process that started with the earliest English colonists (first word adoption-the Algonquian raccoon) and is still going strong today. Author Rosemarie Ostler takes listeners along on the journey as Americans learn to declare linguistic independence and embrace their own brand of speech. 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