Bill Bryson- Troublesome Words

I love Bill Bryson. Before last week, I had read every Bill Bryson book every published except for this one, but now I've read them all. Bryson mostly publishes travel books; they're non-fiction, but written more like novels or journals, and they're meant to be entertaining as much as informative. He also wrote A Short History of Nearly Everything, which is the most fantastic educational book I've ever laid my eyes on. Bryson's books are the kind that make people stare at you on the subway because you're laughing like a lunatic for apparently no reason.

Troublesome Words functions both as a reference text, and as a great read. It really is about what it says it's about- troublesome words. You know, the ones that you use but don't really know what they mean, or the ones that you always misspell, even though you know that you should know better. Yes, it sounds boring, but it's not. It's Bill Bryson.

For example, did you know that there are about eight different kinds of inflation? There's inflation, deflation, hyper-inflation, disinflation, and stagflation. I certainly did not know that (although the hubby did, but that's because he's got a commerce degree). Did you know that "effete" is not a synonym for "effeminate"? It means exhausted and barren. I really thought that I knew what effete meant, but Bryson has enlightened me otherwise. That's why I love this book. It makes being wrong fun.

I can't seem to remember which words Bryson describes in a particularly funny way, but rest assured that they exist. I found this book highly entertaining, to the point that I stayed up reading it until 2:00 a.m. and reading passages aloud to the hubby who was in fact asleep. I know that a book like this might be an acquired taste, as grammar, spelling and punctuation aren't many people's cup of tea, but I know that enough of you are teachers and grad students to make posting this relevant. As my Facebook group listing says "I judge you when you use poor grammar." Harsh, but true. And why use poor grammar when learning how to have good grammar is so much fun?