Words of a Feather: A Humorous Puzzlement of Etymological Pairs

Dazzle your friends and family with your knowledge of word origins!

What's the connection between maneuver and manure? Between glamour and grammar? Anger and angina? At first glance, these words seem to have nothing in common, but in fact they are Words of a Feather, connected by their origins. This cleverly entertaining book explores the shared histories of 150 word pairs (called "dual etymologies") to give language lovers of all ages a fun and powerful vocabulary-building education that's sure to impress.

Adversary & Advertisement:

Both share the same root for "turn." An adversary is someone you don't want to turn away from, lest he shoot you in the back. An advertisement makes you turn toward it, so it can sell you something.

Affluence & Influence:

It's all about "flow." The affluent have a steady flow of cash; the influential have power flow. And if you're Bill Gates, you've got it all.

Flatulence & Inflation:

Both share the Latin flare, which means "to blow," although with inflate, the "wind" is incoming, a crucial difference.

Murray Suid, M.F.A., has written more than two dozen books including How to Be President of the U.S.A. and Demonic Mnemonics. A former writing instructor at San Jose State University, he is also a screenwriter and lives in Inverness, California. Visit him on the Web at www.wordsofafeather.net.