A playful and erudite look at the origins of language In the beginning there was one language—one tongue that Adam used to compose the first poem, an elegy for Abel. “These days, no one bothers to ask about the tongue of Adam. It is a naive question, vaguely embarrassing and irksome, like questions posed by children, which one can only answer rather stupidly.” So begins Abdelfattah Kilito’s The Tongue of Adam, a delightful series of lectures. With a Borgesian flair for riddles, stories, and subtle scholarly distinctions, Kilito presents an assortment of discussions related to Adam’s tongue, including translation, comparative religion, and lexicography: for example, how, from Babel onward, can we explain the plurality of language? Or can Adam’s poetry be judged aesthetically, the same as any other poem? Drawing from the commentators of the Koran to Walter Benjamin, from the esoteric speculations of Judaism to Herodotus, The Tongue of Adam is a nimble book about the mysterious rise of humankind’s multilingualism.

A Pocket Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue is a profane guide to the slang from the backstreets and taverns of 18th-century London. This slang dictionary gathers the most amusing and useful terms from English history and helpfully presents them to be used in the conversations of our modern day. Originally published in 1785, the Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was one of the first lexicons of English slang, compiled by a militia captain who collected the terms he overheard on his late-night excursions to London's slums, dockyards, and taverns. Now the legacy lives on in this colorful pocket dictionary. • Learn the origin of phrases like "birthday suit" and discover slang lost to time. • An unexpected marriage of lowbrow humor and highbrow wit Discover long lost antique slang and curse words and learn how to incorporate them into modern conversation. A Pocket Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue is perfect for enlivening contemporary conversation with historical phrases; it includes a topical list of words for money, drunkenness, the amorous congress, male and female naughty bits, and so on. • A funny book for wordplay, language, swearing, and insult fans, as well as fans of British humor and culture • Perfect for those who loved How to Speak Brit: The Quintessential Guide to the King's English, Cockney Slang, and Other Flummoxing British Phrases by Christopher J. Moore; Knickers in a Twist: A Dictionary of British Slang by Jonathan Bernstein; and The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm by James Napoli

Ali G: How many words does you know? Noam Chomsky: Normally, humans, by maturity, have tens of thousands of them. Ali G: What is some of 'em? —Da Ali G Show Did you know that both mammal and matter derive from baby talk? Have you noticed how wince makes you wince? Ever wonder why so many h-words have to do with breath? Roy Blount Jr. certainly has, and after forty years of making a living using words in every medium, print or electronic, except greeting cards, he still can't get over his ABCs. In Alphabet Juice, he celebrates the electricity, the juju, the sonic and kinetic energies, of letters and their combinations. Blount does not prescribe proper English. The franchise he claims is "over the counter." Three and a half centuries ago, Thomas Blount produced Blount's Glossographia, the first dictionary to explore derivations of English words. This Blount's Glossographia takes that pursuit to other levels, from Proto-Indo-European roots to your epiglottis. It rejects the standard linguistic notion that the connection between words and their meanings is "arbitrary." Even the word arbitrary is shown to be no more arbitrary, at its root, than go-to guy or crackerjack. From sources as venerable as the OED (in which Blount finds an inconsistency, at whisk) and as fresh as Urbandictionary.com (to which Blount has contributed the number-one definition of "alligator arm"), and especially from the author's own wide-ranging experience, Alphabet Juice derives an organic take on language that is unlike, and more fun than, any other.

Packed into the pages of this sturdy Sesame Street board book is a collection of tongue-tripping rhymes about everyone's favorite Sesame Street Muppets, including Elmo, Grover, Ernie, Bert, Betty Lou, Herry, Hoots the owl, and Oscar. The rhyming language and singsong rhythm of tongue twisters are key concepts in language development for babies and toddlers. The humor and playfulness of the tongue twisters in this collection will give toddlers a fun into into the world of wordplay, the foundation of a lifelong enjoyment of the written and spoken word. This book is ideal for use in pre-school classrooms as well as parent/child sharing.

Truog Island is a desolate place where sexual activity is outlawed. There lives Trip Yash, bored out of his mind. That was until he met Cron. After a night of passion, Cron disappears taking Trip's virginity with him. A few days later, Trip develops a rash on his hand that eventually blooms into a gun made from his own flesh. It's not long before Trip becomes a living weapon locked in a battle against an ancient virus that threatens to ruin his island home. As his body continues to change, terrifying forces emerge with the power to weaponize the dead. For fans of Clive Barker and David Cronenberg, Weaponized is a nerve-shattering exploration of sexual identity and people?s strange relationship with tools of death. It is a Kafka-esque horror take on sexual orientation and sexually transmitted infections, and how we villainize those who are different.

Who is Yogi Bear's girlfriend? What links gazpacho soup with revenge? List the nine activities which are traditionally forbidden in public swimming pools. What does the Mona Lisa have in her left hand? List the ten ways in which a batsman may be dismissed in a game of cricket. What links the words almost and biopsy? On the Tip of My Tongue will take you from the natural world to notorious ships and novelty records, from the arts to advertising slogans and airport codes, from science and sport to scandals and space shuttles, from historical events to Hogwarts and Hitchcock and from popular culture to platonic solids and poker hands. It is a quiz book with a difference. As well as attempting to answer thousands of brain-twisting questions, you'll be asked to recall as many items as you can from a list, and to solve the hidden links between groups of questions. While you're struggling to find the right responses, you'll also be reading anecdotes, comments and curious facts. It can be played with family, friends, enemies - or on your own. But however you want to play it, you're sure to suffer the hopeless frustration of finding the next answer is . On the Tip of My Tongue.