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Exaltation of Larks [Paperback]

James Lipton
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Australia; Re-issue edition (30 Nov 1993)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0140170960
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140170962
  • Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 2.5 x 24.1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 51,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Synopsis

Gaggle of geese. A comedy of errors. A rash of dermatologists?! This classic collection of collective nouns includes more than 1100 equally pithy, and often poetic, terms.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
Most introductory chapters are written in the well-grounded expectation that they will be blithely ignored. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars
4.0 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A Celebration of English 11 Mar 1999
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Why do English speakers say, "A pack of dogs" when refering to a number of dogs together, but always refer to puppies as "a litter of puppies"? Is it the random quirkiness of our spoken language?

Would you believe such sayings have a tangible history, and have been planned?

This is the topic of James Lipton's sometimes humorous but always classic book, An Exaltation of Larks. If you've ever the privledge of watching the actor's studio, then you know of James Lipton--one of television's finest interviews and hosts.

In 1968, he wrote a book about the beauty and flexibility of the English language called an Exaltation of Larks. It is a study of the English-speaking tradition of coupling words to describe a set, where both words indicate the same thing, such as "a rope of pearls" and "a school of fish."

For the first part of the book, Mr. Lipton list the more common phrases and the research that has gone into finding out their meaning--where, for instance, "a pride of lions" originated and how long ago it was first used. (The oldest in the English langauge, apparently!)

Where the 1968 edition--which has never been out of print--had only had 118 pages and 175 terms, the Ultimate edition has 300 pages and 1,100 terms.

This would make a very fine gift for any Anglophile, artist, writer or comic. Witty, warm, and extremely observant, with clever line illustrations; a plus to any friend's library or your own.

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative and entertaining 1 Mar 2004
Format:Paperback
This is not an amusing story book, it is a facinating and infromative reference book providing (often) amusing insights into the workings of the mind. For a book comprising little more than a list of collective nouns, James Lipton has done sterling work in keeping the reader entertained. No classic comedy, but an instructive and thought provoking read. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in any aspect of the English language.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A joy! 20 Feb 2013
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A book to read from cover to cover or re-read in part at any time! It is equally entertaining to skim through and look at the illustrations.
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