Title: A Wonderland of Words: Around the World in 101 Essays
Author: Shashi Tharoor
Publisher: Aleph
Pages: 442
Price: ₹999
Have you ever wondered where words such as "hooligan" and "shampoo" came from? Have you ever questioned what acronyms like "TL;DR" and "FOMO" stand for? Have you ever encountered words such as "nonchalant" and asked yourself whether "chalant" is a word?
With a history that reads like an epic, the English language is anything but “colourless” or “lifeless.” In his latest work, A Wonderland of Words, Shashi Tharoor aims to demonstrate how complex and mesmerising the English language truly is, while exemplifying its many intricacies.
Tharoor began writing what would eventually become the essays in this book as articles in the “World of Words” column for the Dubai newspaper Khaleej Times. While the book is largely derived from these writings, they are not solely responsible for the final content.
A deep and engrossing history, the book explores a myriad of concepts and ideas related to the English language, including linguistic phenomena, etymologies, rhetoric, and various critiques of English and its apparent “inconsistencies.”
The author begins by discussing the origins of words at large. He credits Dutch for words such as "landscape" and "easel", and commends Irish for contributing "whiskey" and "galore". He underscores how this phenomenon of adopting loanwords is a key feature of English, boosting its word economy and providing it with the flexibility for which it is universally known.
Nearly one-third of all English words have roots in French, Tharoor explains, while many others originate from Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, and even Russian and Hindi. He also points out that many of the so-called “absurdities of spelling” stem from the adoption of these loanwords, since their original spellings are often preserved—leaving us with oddities like "schadenfreude" and "pseudo", riddled with silent letters.
Indian English and Indianisms
Tharoor speaks at length about the unique and somewhat isolated world of Indian English. As he highlights, Indian English is prone to using pleonasms (redundant phrasing) and archaisms (outdated terms), giving it a distinctive flair. For example, Indians still use terms like "thrice" and phrases such as "do the needful", which are largely considered outdated elsewhere.
However, Tharoor does not discredit Indian English for its peculiarities. Instead, he affirms that “we have nothing to apologise about: we should defiantly celebrate their [the Indianisms] use as an integral part of our Indian English vocabulary.”
Words Galore
Tharoor then touches upon some underlying principles of the language, such as the phenomenon of ablaut reduplication—which explains why we say "tick-tock" instead of "tock-tick".
He divides a major portion of the book into chapters dedicated to words related to a wide range of topics—from diplomatic practices and environmental thinking to fabrics, nautical jargon, and insults.
One of the more interesting chapters of this segment is about how brand names often displace the real names of certain products. For instance, I'm sure that no one has ever really doubted whether calling a photostat a "Xerox" (the brand name) has ever been out of fashion. The same goes for the mineral water brand ‘Bisleri’, which, owing to its ubiquity, is often a substitute for the word "mineral water".
It is here that Shashi Tharoor's signature sesquipedalian style comes into play.
The author sheds light on some of the most elusive and obscure terms. For instance, Tharoor mentions "lemniscate", the technical name for the infinity symbol—a word that exists, but is rarely used. Most people, as he notes, simply call it “the infinity symbol.”
He even introduces tongue-twisters like "hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia" — ironically, the fear of long words! Tharoor proudly boasts that he has not yet fallen prey to lethologica (the experience of being at a loss for words).
Rhetoric and literary absurdity
The final portion of the book explores various rhetorical and literary devices. Some are familiar to most students of English, such as alliteration and hyperbole, while others—like paraprosdokian and zeugma—are likely to stump even well-read minds, despite how often we encounter them.
A fond memory from my childhood comes to mind. I was once shown a photo and asked to identify the person. I immediately blurted out "Albert Intestine". That incident, amusing as it was, is an example of a malapropism, where a word is mistakenly used in place of a similar-sounding one.
In conclusion, Tharoor’s work is a supremely entertaining and novel approach to exploring the English language. It tackles the many layers and intricacies of English head-on and ultimately serves as a delightful rundown of the language and its immense scope. Thanks to Tharoor’s engaging and readable prose, the book proves difficult to put down.
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