There's a Word for It: The Explosion of the American Language Since 1900

by Sol Steinmetz

Word geeks (1984), rejoice! Crack open these covers and immerse yourself in a mind-expanding (1963) compendium of the new words (or new meanings of words) that have sprung from American life to ignite the most vital, inventive, fruitful, and A-OK (1961) lexicographical Big Bang (1950) since the first no-brow (1922) Neanderthal grunted meaningfully.

From the turn of the twentieth century to today, our language has grown from around 90,000 new words to some 500,000—at least, that’s today’s best guesstimate (1936). What accounts for this quantum leap (1924)? In There’s a Word for It, language expert Sol Steinmetz takes us on a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (1949) joyride (1908) through our nation’s cultural history, as seen through the neato (1951) words and terms we’ve invented to describe it all. From the quaintly genteel days of the 1900s (when we first heard words such as nickelodeon, escalator, and, believe it or not, Ms.) through the Roaring Twenties (the time of flappers, jalopies, and bootleg booze) to the postwar ’50s (the years of rock ’n’ roll, beatniks, and blast-offs) and into the new millennium (with its blogs, Google, and Obamamania), this feast for word lovers is a boffo (1934) celebration of linguistic esoterica (1929).

In chapters organized by decade, each with a lively and informative narrative of the life and language of the time, along with year-by-year lists of words that were making their first appearance, There’s a Word for It reveals how the American culture contributed to the evolution and expansion of the English language and vice versa. Clearly, it’s must-reading (1940). And not to disparage any of the umpteen (1918) other language books on the shelf—though they have their share of hokum (1917) and gobbledygook (1944)—but this one truly is the bee’s knees and the cat’s pajamas (1920s).

Genres: Nonfiction, Linguistics, Language, Reference, History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This turned out to be a pretty nifty book. I hope to get the chance at some later point to explain why.

(Of course, you have to factor in my total word-nerdness when you interpret the four star evaluation)

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There's a Word for It: The Explosion of the American Language Since 1900", This book presents a wonderfully organized chronology (by year, not a specific decade) of words.

For example: 1915: abstraction (art), adland, aerobatics, airbrush (v.), etc.

As a lover of words, when I first came across this book in my local library, I joyfully checked it out, read it, scribed notes from it, in one day.

Three additional books I strongly recommend for word lovers are: "Phraseology", "Word Museum", and "Dictionary of Early English" by Joseph Shipley (The 1955 edition is spectacular, but not always easy to locate).

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing like exhaustion from holiday weekend hiking & spotty wifi @ a campsite to get one to finish a book. LOL

The word nerd in me enjoyed this stroll through history and memory lane to learn about what prompted certain words to be created and to be popular at certain points in time. It’s also interesting to think about how words evolve from their original intended meanings, as they wend their way through popular culture or internationally.

I did not jot them down, but there were quite a few words listed for certain years that sounded intriguing, but for which I did not know their meaning. Lazy word nerd I am. 😂

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sol Steinmetz's "There's a Word for it: The Explosion of the American Language Since 1900" is a quick and fun read detailing the explosion of words and phrases that entered into the American English lexicon over 110 years (1900 - 2010). For such a small book, it packs a lot of interesting tidbits of information and it is an impressive cultural and historical overview of America during the time frame.

For example, did you know that soap operas got their name because the programs were typically sponsored by soap and detergent companies? Or that the United States Post Office introduced zip codes in 1963 and that it was original ZIP, short for zone improvement plan? Or that boomeranger is a term for adult children who move back in with their baby boomer parents after graduating from college? If you are interested in the history of words or neat facts, this is definitely the book for you.

So, if this book is full of fun facts about words like goppbledygook and bee's knees paired up with the historical and cultural events of the time all put together in a fun and easily accessible way, why did I only give it two stars? Two reasons:

1. Steinmetz's writing style. It is journalistic, rather than a solid prose (for example, "The president convened on Monday a panel of experts..." I hate the random 'on Monday' clauses media outlets put in the middle of sentences). The random information in the middle of long sentences threw me off on a number of occasions and I had to backtrack to the beginning of the sentence and start over.

2. The word lists. In an effort to cram even more words into this book or as a way to pad the page count, Steinmetz lists new words by year at the end of every chapter. It is incredibly boring to read several pages of word lists. It is so boring that I stopped doing it about halfway through the book.

The two-star rating and my loathing of a particular writing style aside, this is a fun book and I'm glad that I read it. Because of this book, I am proud to say that I know why those daytime dramas are called soap operas!

[Jessica Heck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ummm....I think reading this book will definitely qualify you as a word geek (as if reading a book on the history of sentence diagramming did not). Basically, it's history told through language. It's divided into decades with a 4-5 summary of the events of the decade, with the new words highlighted throughout. Then, for each decade, there is also a list of some of the words added to the dictionary in that decade. It's fascinating to see how the history of those years is reflected by the words they invented. My attention kind of flagged in the 1930-50 era, but then picked back up with the hippy language. What was MOST fascinating was reading through the lists for the three decades I have lived through myself. It's crazy how much life and language have changed! Not only are there all of these new technological words and ideas, but language got so much less formal and (dare I say it?!) more fun! The internet made information abundant...and the creation of words more accessible! OK. It's official. I'm a nerd.

[Peter Heisler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is almost more enjoyable as a trip through American history and pop culture than for the words themselves (though some of the superlative coinages recognized by the American Dialect Society and included in this book are pretty clever). The book is organized by decade, with a few pages of narration at the front of each chapter and then a selection of words that appeared during the decade. It can be a little bit of a slog reading through a multi-page list of words, but it's worth it: Steinmetz chooses the words to complement his discussion and throws in subtle intertexts (e.g., tracing the evolution from "bikini" to "monokini" to "burqini" over the decades). I learned a lot about the origins of commonplace words, and was surprised both at how early some emerged and how recently others have (e.g., "red state" from 2000). All in all a fun read.

[Ken Kugler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love word origins but I am too lazy to actually go through the Oxford English Dictionary. Sol Steinmetz breaks the book down by decade and starts each one with interesting facts about that time period. Then there are the surprises such as the word Ms. I bet all of you thought that it came about in late 60's or 70's and if you did you would be way wrong. He cites the OED as finding it fist use was in 1901 when a writer in the newspaper, the New Era, in Humeston, Iowa used it. In the decade following 1910 with, the introduction of mass marketed cars came also the term, jaywalking the 1950's brainwashing came into being.
I love this sort of stuff and I could go on and on about it. If you meet me, I probably will tell some of this trivia and lots of other things too. Read and enjoy.

[Lawrence A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book about neologisms in American English since 1900, although it's authoritativeness as to particular dates that new words entered the lexicon is suspect. The term "mathlete" was common in the 1970s, yet Steinmetz dates it to the 2000s. SLR (for "single lens reflex") cameras were advertised under that term in 1985, when I purchased my wife her first Nikon, yet Steinmetz reports that this abbreviation didn't become current until 25 years later. Oh well. Any book that begins its discussion of "grunge" music by explaining that Nirvana's Kurt Cobain died of a "drug overdose" must believe that that term is now slang for "a shotgun blast to the head."

[Kirsti · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of those books that looks so great in the catalog but turns out to be rather dry. I don't say this often, but I wish this book had been a website rather than a paper book. It would be more fun to read if it were hyperlinked rather than linear. But it did introduce me to the word snowclone, which is a formulaic cliché, such as "X is the new Y" or "To X or not to X."

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative book. Not only did it discuss the prominent words during each decade since 1900, it also told the stories in each decade that influenced the usage and origin of these words.