Tools of the Trade

Any good worker needs good tools and the knowledge of how to use them. The carpenter relies on his or her hammer and nails, saw and wood, and plumb bob and square, the dancer on her or his pointed shoes and rosin, leotard and tutu, and barre and mirrors. Here's a selection of the tools I most employ when I want to learn about language. From time to time, I'll add to this tool kit.

Tools of the Trade is the online book store of Richard Lederer's Verbivore site, operating in association with Amazon.com Books. You can purchase all of the books on this list at most leading bookstores, or you can order them directly from this page through Amazon.com. If you see a book you'd like to purchase, click on the title, which is linked to Amazon's order form for that book. You won't be committed to your purchases until you enter your credit card information. If you have questions about Amazon's ordering, please contact Amazon Orders.

They can even be gift wrapped and delivered with a note for a verbivorous friend!

Recently added titles are indicated by a red author's name.

• American Heritage editors. Word Mysteries & Histories: From Quiche to Humble Pie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986.
• Barnette, Martha. Lady Fingers and Nun's Tummies. New York: Times Books, 1997.
• Bryson, Bill. The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1990.
• Bryson, Bill. Made In America. New York: Morrow 1994.
• Chapman, Robert L.. The Dictionary of American Slang . New York: Harper Collins, 1998.
• Dalzell, Tom. Flappers 2 Rappers. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1997.
• Dalzell, Tom. The Slang of Sin. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1998.
• Dickson, Paul. Dickson's Word Treasury. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992.
• Dickson, Paul. What's in a Name? Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1997.
• Dickson, Paul. Slang!: The Topic-By-Topic Dictionary of Contemporary American Lingoes. New York: Pocket Books, 1990.
• Eckler, Ross. Making the Alphabet Dance. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.
• Elster, Charles Harrington. The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations : The Complete Opinionated Guide for the Careful Speaker . Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1999.
• Fowler, H. W. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Second Edition, revised by Sir Ernest Gowers. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965.
• Gallant, Frank K. A Place Called Peculiar. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1998.
• Garner, Bryan A. A Dictionary of Modern American Usage. Oxford University Press, 1998.
• Hale, Constance (Editor), and Scanlon, Jessie. Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age. Broadway Books, 1999.
• Hendrickson, Robert. Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins. New York: Facts On File Publications, 1998.
• Johnson, Edward D. The Handbook of Good English. New York: Washington Square Press, 1991.
• Lovinger, Paul W. The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style. Viking Press, 2000.
• McCrum, Robert, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil. The Story of English. New York: Penguin Books, 1987.
• McQuain, Jeffery. Never Enough Words : How Americans Invented Expressions As Ingenious, Ornery, and Colorful As Themselves. Random House, 1999.
• Michaelsen, O.V. Words at Play. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 1997.
• Morris, William and Mary. Morris. Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins: Second Edition. New York: Harper & Row, 1988.
• Rawson, Hugh. Devious Derivations. New York: Crown Publishers, 1994.
• Rogers, James. The Dictionary of Cliches. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1985.
• Stillson, Alan. The Mensa Genius ABC Quiz Book. Reading, MA:Addison-Wesley, 1998.
• Strunk, William, Jr., and E. B. White. The Elements of Style, Third Edition. New York: Macmillan, 1979.
• Tarshis, Barry. Grammar for Smart People. New York: Pocket Books, 1992.

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