The Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language

by Mark Forsyth

From Mark Forsyth, the author of the #1 international bestseller, The Etymologicon, comes a book of weird words for familiar situations. The Horologicon (or book of hours) contains the most extraordinary words in the English language, arranged according to what hour of the day you might need them. 

Do you wake up feeling rough? Then you’re philogrobolized.

Find yourself pretending to work? That’s fudgelling.

And this could lead to rizzling, if you feel sleepy after lunch. Though you are sure to become a sparkling deipnosopbist by dinner. Just don’t get too vinomadefied; a drunk dinner companion is never appreciated.

From ante-jentacular to snudge by way of quafftide and wamblecropt, at last you can say, with utter accuracy, exactly what you mean.

• ISBN10: 0425264378
• ISBN13: 9780425264379
• Publish Date: 1 October 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Berkley
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780425264379

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

I absolutely love Mark Forsyth's books and this one was the last one I had of his to read.  Its focus in on the lost words of the English language and he's broken it down into a parody, of sorts, of a book of hours.  We start at 6 a.m. and learn about the words applicable to dawn and waking up, then proceed to travel through the day of work, lunch, shopping, and socialising, ending up in bed at midnight.  All done with Forsyth's trademark humour.   

Ultimately, I didn't love it as much as his other two books, the Entymologicon and the The Elements of Eloquence but it was still excellent and I highly recommend it for those that just love words.   

He's also got a new book out, A Christmas Cornucopia : The Hidden Stories Behind Our Yuletide Traditions, which is, of course, on my To Buy list.

[wyvernfriend]

Excellent fun that I dipped in and out of until I finished, half the words I will never remember but it's interesting to know that they exist.