The Words of the Day: The Unlikely Evolution of Common English (Pedagogue Series) Paperback – January 1, 2006

It's pretty cool to see where words came from and how they've evolved. Definitely an interesting and fun read. It's a good book!

I bought this book on a tip from a friend who said it helped her hugely on the verbal portion of the GRE, plus she said it was the funniest thing she had ever read. I am getting ready to take the SAT so I read it and she was right! This book makes understanding words not only easy, but fun, too! The author is a great storyteller, and knowing the stories behind the words helps you remember what they mean much better than memorizing flashcards. This book actually makes you feel smarter. I plan to read it again right before I take the test! Wish me luck! But with Cerutti's Words of the Day under my belt, I know I'll do fine.

This book takes you on a roller-coaster ride through the classical origins of the English language from page one! Cerutti has a feel for Greek and Roman mythology that I've never encountered before, and I was a classics major as an undergrad! I learned more about the classical world from reading this book than I did in college. And it's extremely funny! Try "Homer meets Andrew Dice Clay!" I found myself laughing out loud dozens of times. Chapter five, on the sexual exploits of Apollo is worth the price of the book alone. This book would make an excellent gift for anyone with a healthy sense of humor and a keen interest in words--even the "naughty" ones. This book rocks!

Cerutti's previous books have all been Greek to me but this one was written in the universal language of humor, making it accessible even to those of us who are not classicists! This book will teach you about the origins of words and expressions we use every day as well as Greek and Roman mythology. Best of all, you'll laugh your [...] off through the whole thing (and you'll probably blush a bit too). Cerutti's WORDS is for anyone who is educated, who wants to become educated, who wants to appear educated, or who wants to laugh at others who think they're educated. I'm hoping for a sequel!

Being a former student of Dr. Cerutti's, I am a little biased. But I took the class to which he refers in his text, and it was even funnier than the book itself. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as did some of my colleagues who also read it. I remember the day he wrote a big "FA" on the board and then proceeded to lecture away, just as he did in the chapter on "fa" and "pha". Overall, a very pleasant adaptation of his class.

I greatly enjoyed this book as an introduction to the ancestry of English. It is a fun read and has some really funny stories about word origins.

Well,The author got off to a good start with the meaning of the word tip (as in to tip your waiter) and he knows what he's talking about when it comes to Greek and Latin culture and the words that it created. But this book goes on long rants about Greek and Roman and their sexual conquests which only seem to relate back to the words from time to time. Since I wasn't looking for a book on Greek and Roman gods I was little disappointed. In addition this book is very profane, I'm an extremely liberal person so I can stomach his sexual slang recited to exhaustion. The meaning of profane words is one thing... but prepare yourself if you're gonna read this one.I can imagine this guy teaching a class (as he does) and it being quite entertaining and comedic, but as a book it doesn't work so well.But I learned a couple of things.