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A new book: The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two From: Wordsmith (garg AT wordsmith.org) To: linguaphileATwordsmith.org Subject: A new book: The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two Every night, before I tuck my elementary-school-aged daughter to bed, I read stories to her. For her, storytime is sacrosanct: It's okay to skip dinner or brushing her teeth, or even sleep, but not storytime. Some nights when we're running late, I tell her, "You have to get up early for your violin class. Let's leave it to tomorrow night." "How about just a little bit?" she pleads. Okay. I read, "Once upon a time..." and close the book. "There." "No. How about five pages?" she proposes. "How about one paragraph?" I ask. And so the negotiations begin. Eventually a deal is struck and I agree to read two pages, but before I realize it, I've finished the whole chapter. The violin teacher can wait. That's the charm of stories (from Latin historia: history). Even when we grow up, our fondness for them doesn't go away. And what if the stories are all true? Well, that's my upcoming book, published by the Penguin Group: The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words ISBN 9780452288614 Pre-order it at Amazon.com Barnes & Noble, or BookSense. In this book I've collected stories about words and their origins. You'll learn why cappuccino is named after a monk, what the unit for the warmth of clothes is, and what ghost words are ('dord' is one). The book will be released in about a month, but you can pre-order it now. Listing of bookstores in other countries. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) Compared to the drama of words, Hamlet is a light farce. -Anatoly Liberman, professor (b. 1937)

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