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“A PICTURE, it hag often been said, is worth a thousand

words; but do we ever spare a thought for the irony that
this equation is itself. expressed through words?

Do we in fact think much about

- these Duilding blocks of language
atall?

One person ‘who certainly does
is Robert MacNeil, the eloquent,
Canadian-born co-anchor and ex-
ecutive.editor of the critically-
acclaimed MacNeil/Lehrer

7 NewsHour.

Co-author ofthe bestseller, The

‘Story of English, MacNeil has now

turned an introspective eye to the

sources of his life-long fascination

with the beauty and power of
words in the autobiographical

" Wordstruck (Viking; 230 pp.;

$18.95 in hardcover).
. Wordstruck is a passionate and

* poignant examination of the fun-

damental forces that shaped
MacNeil’s abiding, joyful delight in

. spoken and written language. That

he was able to convey the sense of
wonder and pleasure he derives -

~ from words, speaks. volumes ! in

itself.

There is a rare, lightly-lyrical”
touch to so many passages in
Wordstruck. This book at times

-_ seems to ring with.the echoes ofa
gentler age when print was im--
- bued wit

dimensions of im- -
mediacy, excitement and .
tenderness; an‘age in which the *
wordsmith perfected ‘his or her -
craft unchallenged by electronic
rivals.

Bizarre though it may appear: to
discourage anyone from acquiring

acopy of this lovely bit of word-

From page 26°

: tuberous root similar to potato .
($21). .

Or how about a combination of

’ Moonshine Fish, Provencale .

Scallops and Squid filled with fresh’

morels in.a balsamic vinegar, soya

_ LENSES, 2 CASES

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| Low Price
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; VANCOUVER
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873-3941

NORTH and
_ WAST VANCOUVER
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1456 Lonsdale Avenue
: 9867-1611

SORRY! VICTORIA; NANAIMO;

craft, Wordstruck is not for
everyone. Sadly it will most.
definitely not appeal to many so-
called literate readers precisely
because so few people today view
_a well-turned phrase with quite the
degree of pleasure that once held

MIKE
STEELE

book review

true.

But for those who enjoy the
grace of a well-placed word, the
stirring and evocative lure of lan-
guage, Wordstruck will be a
charming and welcome departure

from the mundane fare that is the
modern norm... .

aee

Of course, development of writ-
ten and oral skills in large part de-

pends on the resources available
to the writer or speaker,

The following titles are some of
the more amusing and/or con-
structive books of the season

which may, in some small way,

provide a few language insights.
The Dictionary of Eponyms

sauce and angel hair seaweed

- sauce? For $27 I'll take two.

- Desserts: Fresh Fig Tart served -
with a ‘wonderful’ (wifely quote)
homemade caramel and marsala
.ice cream or Dark Chocolate
Mousse served with fresh mango-

(Gphere/Penguin; 307 PP.; $9.95 in
paperback) is a great tool ‘for an-
swering the oft-spoke question of a
word's origin; specifically the per-
son after. whom something or
other is named.

While some are common
knowledge (‘sandwich’, for in-
stance, named for the gambling
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sand-
wich, who invented this culinary
arrangement so as to avoid leaving
his gaming tables), others are not.

‘Draconian’ is derived from the
Athenian law-giver Draco who,
over 2,500 years ago, demanded
the death penalty for virtually all
criminals regardless of the severity
of the offence concerned.

‘Cereal’ owes its origin to the
Roman goddess of agriculture,
Ceres.

‘Spaniel’ is an oblique reference
to the belief that this popular
breed of dog first appeared in
Spain and was described in Old
French as espaigneul or espaignol
for ‘Spanish’.

se

As society changes, so of course
does language. Words in common
use may acquiré new meanings or
disappear altogether.

In some cases, cultural forces
require the coining of new:words.
Our recent preoccupation with -
employing non-sexist terminology
demonstrates this admirably.

It should come as no surprise
then that there is now such a thing
as a guide to gendzr-free word
usage: The Nonsexist Dictionary

Dine post-modernly in Toronto

strawberry puree, homemade
gooseberry preserve and lady
fingers (both $6.95).

So for a big, big night out, book
a flight to T.O. and visit Lotus.
Everybody who is anybody surely
already has.

(Beacon/Oxford; 210 pp.; $14.50
im paperback).

The Nonsexist Dictionary pro- ~

vides substitutes for ‘offensive’
words and cautions the reader as
to just which words are consid-
ered offensive. ‘Playboy’ and
‘playgirl’ are out, replaced with |
such things as ‘bedhopper’, ‘sw-
inger’ and ‘libertine’. ‘Peeping
Tom’ must, we are admonished,
be changed to ‘voyeur’ or ‘win-
dow peeper’ (I would have prefer-
red ‘peeping person’; it has a nice
ring to it} and so on. .

While some of the objections
raised seem justifiable, much of
the material in The Nonsexist Dic-
tionary tweaked my irreverent
sense of humor no-end. ‘Gossip’
is deemed sexist, likewise ‘girl’
and ‘gabby’, ‘whine’ and
‘nursemaid’.

On the other hand, ‘ottoman’
(sofa) is not sexist as the word is

35 - Wednesday, June 14, 1989 -

Books on language building blocks make good reading

derived from the French for
“Turk.” Bet that saved a few
sleepless nights.

And the final book this week: an
often hilarious insight into the
world of letters with The Writer’s
Home Companion. This is a slim
work whose size belies the book’s
contents.

While only 128 pages in length,
this 4”" x 6%” volume is crammed
with anecdotes and information
linked to writers and their world. -

The Writer’s Home Companion
is filled with funny, pithy and pa-
thetic references to writers ranging
from Lord Byron to Stephen King:
Ideal pocketfare, The Writer’s
Home Companion (Bantam;. ©
$5.95) is a marvellous little book
with an impish appraisal of writing,

through the ages. |

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