From Monte Carlo to Shanghai, Bikini to Samarra, Around the World in 80 Words is a whimsical voyage through the far-flung reaches of the English language.
What makes a place so memorable that it survives for ever in a word? In this captivating round-the-world jaunt, Paul Anthony Jones reveals the intriguing stories of how 80 different places came to be immortalised in our language.
Beginning in London and heading through Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas, youll discover why the origins of turkeys, Brazil nuts, limericks and Panama hats arent quite as straightforward as you might presume. Youll also find out what the Philippines have given to your office in-tray; what an island with more bears than people has given to your liquor cabinet; and how a tiny hamlet in Nottinghamshire became Gotham City.
Surprising and consistently entertaining, this is essential reading for armchair travellers and word nerds. Our dictionaries are full of hidden histories, tales and adventures from all over the world if you know where to look.
Muu info
* Beautifully designed for gifting.; * Paul Anthony Jones is one of the rising stars in his field, well connected and with an impressive track record of original research.; * His hugely popular Twitter account @HaggardHawks has 48.3k followers and is growing by the day.; * Celebrity supporters include JK Rowling, Robert Macfarlane, Joanne Harris, Richard Osman, Greg Jenner, Ian McMillan, Danny Baker, Susie Dent, Simon Mayo, Michael Rosen, Cerys Matthews.; * Regularly features in the Telegraph, Buzzfeed and Huffington Post.
CONTENTS; Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . xi;
1. London, UK Kent Street ejectment.. . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 1;
2. Vire, France vaudeville.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5;
3. Saverne, France zabernism.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9;
4. Spa,
Belgium spa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19;
5. Neander
Valley, Germany Neanderthal. . . . . . . . . . . 24;
6. Amsterdam,
Netherlands ampster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28;
7. Copenhagen, Denmark
Great Dane. . . . . . . . . . . . . 31;
8. Oslo, Norway Oslo breakfast.. . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35;
9. Ytterby, Sweden yttrium.. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 39;
10. Helsinki, Finland Finlandisation. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 43;
11. Dubna, Russia dubnium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 46;
12. Balaklava, Ukraine balaclava. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51;
13. Istanbul, Turkey turkey.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55;
14.
Nicosia, Cyprus copper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58;
15.
Abdera, Greece Abderian laughter.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61;
16. Sofia,
Bulgaria buggery.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64;
17. Skopje,
Macedonia macedoine.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67;
18. Sarajevo, Bosnia
and Herzegovina Balkanisation.. . . . 70;
19. Zagreb, Croatia cravat. . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73;
20. Kocs, Hungary coach. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 77;
21. Rakow, Poland Racovian.. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 80;
22. Jachymov, Czech Republic dollar. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 83;
23. Kahlenbergerdorf, Austria calembour. . . . . . . . . . . .
87;
24. Magenta, Italy magenta.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90;
25. Jura Mountains, France/Switzerland Jurassic. . . . . . 94;
26. Monte
Carlo, Monaco Monte Carlo fallacy. . . . . . . . 97;
27. Porto, Portugal
port.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100;
28. Jerez de la Frontera,
Spain sherry.. . . . . . . . . . . . 104;
29. Gibraltar Siege of Gibraltar..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106;
30. Tangier, Morocco tangerine. . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 108;
31. Algiers, Algeria Algerine. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 111;
32. Canary Islands canary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 114;
33. Timbuktu, Mali Timbuktu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
117;
34. Conakry, Guinea guinea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120;
35.
Brazzaville, Congo conga.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123;
36.
Stellenbosch, South Africa Stellenbosch.. . . . . . . . . 125;
37. Mocha,
Yemen mocha.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128;
38. Cairo, Egypt
fustian.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130;
39. Bethlehem,
Palestine bedlam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134;
40. Mount Nebo, Jordan
Pisgah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137;
41. Samarra, Iraq appointment in
Samarra.. . . . . . . . . . 139;
42. Qumis, Iran Parthian. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 141;
43. Bukhara, Uzbekistan buckram. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 144;
44. Kabul, Afghanistan Afghanistanism. . . . . . . . . . . .
148;
45. Deolali, India doolally.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151;
46. Colombo, Sri Lanka serendipity.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155;
47. Samut
Songkhram, Thailand Siamese twins. . . . . . . 158;
48. Phnom Penh, Cambodia
gamboge. . . . . . . . . . . . . 162;
49. Shanghai, China Shanghaiing.. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 164;
50. Shangdu, China Xanadu. . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 167;
51. Kagoshima, Japan satsuma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 170;
52. Manila, Philippines Manila paper.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 173;
53. Makassar, Indonesia antimacassar. . . . . . . . . . . . . 175;
54.
Tasmania, Australia vandemonianism.. . . . . . . . . . . 178;
55. Karitane,
New Zealand Karitane.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 182;
56. Bikini Atoll,
Marshall Islands bikini.. . . . . . . . . . . 185;
57. Klondike, Canada
Klondike. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188;
58. Admiralty Island, Alaska,
USA hooch.. . . . . . . . . . 191;
59. Hollywood, California, USA Hollywood
no.. . . . . . . 193;
60. Jalap, Mexico jalapeno. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 196;
61. San Jose, Costa Rica Panlibhonco. . . . . . . . . . . . .
199;
62. Panama City, Panama Panama hat.. . . . . . . . . . . . 202;
63.
Lima, Peru Lima syndrome.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205;
64. Stanley,
Falkland Islands Falklands effect.. . . . . . . . 209;
65. Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil Brazil nut.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 211;
66. Cayenne, French Guiana
cayenne pepper. . . . . . . . . 216;
67. Daiquiri, Cuba daiquiri cocktail. .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 218;
68. Hamilton, Bermuda Bermuda.. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 221;
69. Buncombe, North Carolina, USA bunkum.. . . . . . .
224;
70. New York, USA tuxedo.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227;
71.
Toronto, Canada Toronto blessing.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 230;
72. Labrador,
Canada Labrador. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233;
73. Geysir, Iceland
geyser.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236;
74. Limerick, Ireland
limerick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239;
75. Dublin, Ireland
donnybrook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243;
76. Glasgow, UK Glasgow
magistrate.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 246;
77. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Newcastle programme. . . . 251;
78. Gotham, UK Gothamite.. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 255;
79. Coventry, UK send to Coventry.. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 259;
80. Porlock, UK person from Porlock. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
263; Epilogue.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
267; Select bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
269; Acknowledgements.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Paul Anthony Jones is the author of several books on trivia and language including The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities, The Accidental Dictionary, Word Drops, The British Isles: A Trivia Gazetteer, Haggard Hawks & Paltry Poltroons and its sequel, Jedburgh Justice & Kentish Fire. He appears regularly in the Telegraph online, BBC Radio 4s World at One, Buzzfeed, the Huffington Post and Mental Floss, and has contributed to the Guardian, Independent and Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries online. He also runs @HaggardHawks, the hugely popular language-based Twitter account and YouTube channel. He lives in Newcastle upon Tyne.
