Kick the Bucket and Swing the Cat

Oct 3, 2024 9:19 AM

Author:Alex Games

Kick the Bucket and Swing the Cat takes a humorous tour through the fascinating, sometimes tragic, and often surprising history of the English language and its etymology.

Author, humorist and word-sleuth Alex Games uncovers the trends, innovations and scandals that have shaped the meanings of our most popular words and expressions, from Chaucer to Internet jargon and Ancient Greek to American slang. Who was the original Jack the Lad, Gordon Bennett or Bloody Mary? Where do dodgy geezers and hooligans come from? What are skeldering, dithering and sabre-rattling?

This amusing but rigorously researched account of English words and their origins combines the findings of the major BBC TV series and the nationwide Wordhunt, and is an entertaining treasure trove for English-language lovers everywhere.

Reviews

It was fun, instructive and will appeal to the scholarly in all of us. I see no earthly reason why it should not, as it used to say on theatre posters, run and run

—— Peter Paterson , Daily Mail

Fascinating

—— The Times

It's the kind of show that sticks a boot up the posterior of those who claim the BBC is only interested in dumbing down pap these days

—— Dominik Diamond , Daily Star

...a fantastic collection of words without English counterparts

—— Entertainment Weekly

… will make you think, laugh and discover situations you never knew there was a word for

—— ELLE Canada

'An absorbing read...reminding us that oppression is not always conducted abroad or by the sword and that, when a remedy is sought, it will often be found'.

—— Sean Cosgrove , Morning Star

'Hutchinson's determination to put it into a historical context has produced a significant commentary on the fortunes of Gaelic.He reminds us of each hard-won milestone on the road to some kind of meaningful government commitment'.

—— David Ross , The Glasgow Herald

One thing that makes Gowers such an engaging figure is that he isn't prissy, priggish or prim. As far as he is concerned, language is a living thing that is constantly changing - and this is just as it should be

—— Sunday Telegraph

Still the best book on English and how to write it ... Unhappy with versions rewritten by others, Rebecca Gowers, Sir Ernest's great-granddaughter, has produced a new edition ... The result is splendid ... Gowers wrote with wit, humanity and common sense ... [his] central advice should be taped to the screen of anyone sitting down at a computer keyboard

—— Michael Skapinker , Financial Times

The book has been modernized but preserves all its original charm ... There is arguably a greater need for its circulation among the general public [than ever before]

—— Big Issue

The zeal with which Sir Ernest uncovers error is matched only by the wit with which he chastises it

—— Evening Standard

I am glad that attention should be continually drawn to copies of this book ... I am in full sympathy with the doctrine laid down by Sir Ernest Gowers

—— Sir Winston Churchill

A delight, a classic of its kind

—— John o'London's Weekly

Great fun to read

—— Economist

Brilliant

—— New Statesman

A sweetly reasonable and wholly admirable guide

—— The Times

It will delight far wider circles than those to whom it is primarily addressed

—— Observer

Personal and affectionate tribute

—— Sally Morris , Daily Mail

Affectionate, familial tribute to this many-sided man.

—— The Catholic Herald

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