An alphabetical tour of the world of fruits and vegetables, from apricot and artichoke to yam and zucchini.

With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson—the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent—brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants

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Inspired by the author's tenure at "The New Yorker," a collection of whimsical, revelatory errors foraged from the wilds of everyday English includes entries ranging from "exit Jesus" and "doggy-dog world" to "for all intensive purposes" and "dairy airs."

An alphabetical exploration of various words, both proper and slang, explaining their origins, meaning, and changes in usage.

Southerners talk too slowly. New Yorkers are rude. New Englanders don't say much at all. Anybody who lives in the U.S. knows the clichés about how people in the various parts of the country handle the English language. American tongues is the first documentary to explore the impact of these linguistic attitudes in a fresh and exciting manner. For over ten years American tongues has entertained and educated audiences from the high school level on...

Drawings of animals engaged in various activities illustrate antonyms of descriptive words such as cold and hot, colors, and shapes.