Never Enough Words

From native words to current coinages, the American vocabulary highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of the national personality. In Never Enough Words, Jeffrey McQuain, the noted guest writer for William Safire's On Language column, offers a fascinating look at the evolution of American language and the agility, with which Americans apply old words to new situations, resulting in new meanings. From the humorous (lawyer bird, named for its long bill) to the sonorous (whippoorwills and katydids, named for the sounds they make), McQuain demonstrates how our distinctive American traits -- bravado, inventiveness, and patriotism, to name a few -- have uniquely shaped our language.