Cover may vary - this is a stock image

WordwatchingOne Man's Quest for Linguistic Immortality

Condition: Poor Condition — £10.19
What do the conditions mean?

Our conditions mean the following:

  • New - a brand new book
  • Almost New - appears new but is actually secondhand.
  • Very Good - only minor imperfections such as minor scuffs to edge or cover or a price written in pencil or shop sticker.
  • Standard Secondhand - Clearly been read before, but not too bad. We do not recommend these for gifting. Spines usually creased. Could also include creases or folds to cover, some writing such as in the cover or elsewhere, underlining or highlighting, but might not do. Possibly some stains or marks. Similar in general to books in any secondhand shop or charity shop.
  • Poor Condition - Usually this will have a specific problem such as writing inside, water damage, missing dust jacket, heavy staining, large creases or cuts. These are readable copies but not nice ones. On other websites this condition is called 'Acceptable' or 'Fair' , but we want to be more honest.
£10.19
£10.19
Sale Sold out
Taxes included. Shipping calculated at checkout.

Low stock: 1 left

One man's quest to coin a new word. If bootylicious can get in the dictionary . . . Alex Horne loves words. He loves them so much, in fact, that he decided to invent his own--to create a brand new verbal concept and successfully implant it into the English language, and the Oxford English Dictionary. But breaking into the dictionary was going to take more than just a gentle word in the ear of the OED's editor, as Alex soon discovered. Evidence was required--Alex needed proof that his word was in print and used by more people than just him and his mom. He needed, to use the dictionary's word, a "corpus" of examples, so a corpus he resolved to create. And he gave himself 1,000 days in which to do it. This is the story of what happened next. Did Alex get a word in the OED? What is a pratdigger? Are you already using one of Alex's words without realizing it? You won't regret spending your hard-earned honk on this hugely entertaining book full of wordy trivia and funny tales of verbal invention.

Genre: Horne, Alex, English language
Format: Paperback
Published: 2011
Pages: 328
Publisher: Virgin Books
ISBN: 9780753515754

Payment method

  • American Express
  • Apple Pay
  • Diners Club
  • Discover
  • Google Pay
  • Maestro
  • Mastercard
  • Shop Pay
  • Union Pay
  • Visa

Our conditions mean the following:

  • New - a brand new book
  • Almost New - appears new but is actually secondhand.
  • Very Good - only minor imperfections such as minor scuffs to edge or cover or a price written in pencil or shop sticker.
  • Standard Secondhand - Clearly been read before, but not too bad. We do not recommend these for gifting. Spines usually creased. Could also include creases or folds to cover, some writing such as in the cover or elsewhere, underlining or highlighting, but might not do. Possibly some stains or marks. Similar in general to books in any secondhand shop or charity shop.
  • Poor Condition - Usually this will have a specific problem such as writing inside, water damage, missing dust jacket, heavy staining, large creases or cuts. These are readable copies but not nice ones. On other websites this condition is called 'Acceptable' or 'Fair' , but we want to be more honest.
  • Free UK shipping over £10.
  • Under £10, shipping is £1.99.
  • Express shipping £2.99.
  • Choose 10 £1 books for £10 including shipping!
  • International shipping available to select countries, proceed to checkout to see prices.

Return books within 14 days if not happy.

View full details