Word for All Seasons

Linguist David Crystal's absorbing journey through the origins of seasonal English words and phrases.

In this dazzling linguistic journey, David Crystal guides readers through the fascinating history of English's seasonal vocabulary. Spring chicken, dog days, and Halloween are just a few of the over 100 words and phrases brought together here to show how the ways we speak about the changing seasons have become one of the most productive areas of the English lexicon. Exploring the origins of words associated with spring, summer, autumn, and winter--along with the very word "season" itself--Crystal shows how these turns of phrase have long been used creatively in such worlds as commerce, politics, and the arts, including idioms and extracts from poetry. Illuminating and intriguing, A Word for All Seasons demonstrates how the words and phrases we've long linked to specific times of our year have spread throughout the English language.