Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, Tinctures, Tonics, and Essences; With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory
    Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, Tinctures, Tonics, and Essences; With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory
    Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, Tinctures, Tonics, and Essences; With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, Tinctures, Tonics, and Essences; With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory

    Written by Roy Blount, Jr.

    Narrated by Roy Blount, Jr.

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    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?
    — Youtube.com


    After forty years of making a living using words in every medium, print or electronic, except greeting cards, Roy Blount Jr. still can't get over his ABCs. In Alphabet Juice, he celebrates 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" and concentrates more on questions such as these: Did you know that both mammal and matter derive from baby talk? Have you noticed how wince makes you wince?

    Three and a half centuries ago, Sir 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. 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 roots, 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateOct 14, 2008
    ISBN9781427204943
    Author

    Roy Blount, Jr.

    Humorist, sportswriter, poet, performer, lecturer, dramatist, and author of seventeen books, Roy Blount Jr.’s writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and National Geographic. His work has also been anthologized in such collections as The Best of Modern Humor and The Ultimate Baseball Book. He lives in western Massachusetts and New York City.

    More audiobooks from Roy Blount, Jr.

    Related to Alphabet Juice

    Related audiobooks

    Humor & Satire For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Joshua Ferris Writes a Work of Hope

      Aug 2, 2021

      This was always going to be about Joshua Ferris’s dad. “You catch me pretty fresh,” the author deadpans over Zoom. “I haven’t talked about it.” The “it” refers to his long-awaited new novel, A Calling for Charlie Barnes, which publishes in September.

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Blue-collar Bard

      Jul 13, 2020

      The Blue-collar Bard
      13 min read

    • Article

      Ten Must-Read Crime Books Set in the American West

      Dec 27, 2019

      This list of must-read crime titles forms part of a lesser-known West, an awesomely weird landscape in which the line between Good and Evil shimmers like a mirage. The post Ten Must-Read Crime Books Set in the American West appeared first on The Mill

      4 min read

    • Article

      Nick Tosches in a Trench Coat

      Oct 21, 2019

      Nick Tosches in a Trench Coat
      2 min read

    • Article

      Behind the Dedications: Hunter S. Thompson

      Feb 20, 2017

      On February 16, 2005, Hunter S. Thompson was sitting in his home in Woody Creek, Colorado. Football season had just ended, which always left him morose, but he was also suffering from surgery-related pain in his hip and back, which made walking diffi

      6 min read

    • Article

      Unreleased Orson Welles Film ‘The Other Side Of The Wind’ Arrives

      Nov 2, 2018

      For Welles aficionados, and perhaps only for them, “The Other Side of the Wind” will function as a skeleton key to the themes and obsessions of his entire career.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Could Onomatopoeia Be the Origin of Language?

      Feb 13, 2024

      Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuo nnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk! grumbles the thunder in Finnegans Wake, and there is, as far as I know, no longer example in English of onomatopoeia, or echo-mimesis, in which the

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Beauty Of LANGUAGE

      Feb 4, 2021

      What does a Jerusalem artichoke have to do with Jerusalem? Why do we fall head over heels when that’s the right way up? And doesn’t having your cake and eating it make total sense? If you’ve ever pondered any of these linguistic curiosities, the answ

      3 min read

    • Article

      Cracking Avatar’s Language Codes

      Feb 1, 2018

      One hot Thursday in July of 2013, I met a gangly young man at Washington D.C.’s Union Station. Energetic and slightly nervous, he politely shook my hand and ushered me to a silver sedan where his girlfriend, Sarah, was at the wheel. Although he intro

      8 min read

    • Article

      The State Of It

      Sep 12, 2021

      The State Of It
      6 min read

    • Article

      The State Of It

      Sep 12, 2021

      The State Of It
      6 min read

    • Article

      Cracking Avatar’s Language Codes: A fictional language makes the jump to reality.

      Oct 17, 2013

      One hot Thursday in July, I met a gangly young man at Washington D.C.’s Union Station. Energetic and slightly nervous, he politely shook my hand and ushered me to a silver sedan where his girlfriend, Sarah, was at the wheel. Although he introduced hi

      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Alphabet Juice

    4/5

    2 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words