A Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare by Jeremy Butterfield

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
A fascinating study of words *as people actually use them.* Most books on language do not have the power of the Corpus behind them, which is what makes Damp Squid so special.

This book is written for a British English audience, which means that even hardcore linguaphiles like myself will be kept slightly off-balance the entire time. Even during the introductory, English-comes-from-German-and-1066-blah-blah-blah portions you won’t find yourself bored (unless you’ve also studied British English, I guess).

The origin of the title, apparently a common phrase across the pond, isn’t glossed until Chapter 6. Or an exercise in collocation–“What word most naturally comes at the end of this sentence?” isn’t as dead simple for American English speakers as it would have been for Brits.

Have a very basic knowledge of Brit slang before going into this, or be willing to Google: if you don’t know what a chav or a lorry is, you may be thrown a little too much off balance.

Definitely recommended for any word lovers.

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