I’ve learnt a bunch of out of use English words with this book, unfortunately I can’t think of any other more pompous and well-deserved word than magnificent to describe The Horologycon: A Day’s Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language (2012).

Complete review on Medium. ( )

Horologicon will entertain you on at least every other page. Mark Forsyth provides a seem less combination of history, humor, and etymology salvaging and sharing some extraordinary words from old England to narco-slang. He structures his story in the context of a modern working day from morning to evening and all the words you'll need for every moment along the way. Did you know there are words to measure the degree of inebriation or people that hide in corners? (No spoilers here). Forsyth adds a light humorous touch to the narrative keeping you amused without being annoyed. You're learning something in an entertaining way and isn't that worth something? See his companion book, Etymologican if you want more. Highly recommended. ( )

I was going to get all cute and pepper the shit out of this review with all the new words I learned, but screw it. There's no need to be cute with this review.

If you are, in the slightest, any sort of word nerd, this book is fun as hell. There's really nothing else to say. I laughed out loud several times, and enjoyed the full ride. ( )

After The Etymologicon, Mark Forsyth wrote The Horologicon, a book with obsolete, but very entertaining and interesting words (nouns, adjectives, verbs, expressions, ...), arranged in clockwise order. Each chapter represents an hour or time frame, starting with morning and waking up. This goes into breakfast, work, lunch, teatime, shopping, going out, etcetera.

Applying his witty style to this book, mr. Forsyth managed to compile it all in a neat manner, where - like in The Etymologicon - each term/expression leads to an other, in a logical way.

As The Horologicon focuses on the English language, you'll also find that the discussed terms are related to foreign languages. I even saw a word that is used in West-Flemish: (to) skink, which means to pour (wine, water, ...). In the western part of Flanders, to skink wine, for example, is to pour wine into a glass. Or to donate something to charity. E.g.: Wie schenkt er wijn? Wie goat er win skinkn? The proper verb in Dutch is 'schenken'.

There's also a nice overview of the consulted works (old dictionaries and books). Added to that are the terms that mr. Forsyth didn't find in any of the dictionaries, or what he would call a dictionary, but he did mention where he got them from. At the end, and that's very convenient, is an index of all the old/obsolete words discussed in the book.

Like The Etymologicon, this book is far from a dry read. In fact, simply put, you could learn about language in a dry, academic manner. Or you can learn in a more loose way, with a slab of humour to make things more appealing and attractive. Less boring. Which makes you think why such ways of teaching aren't/weren't (?) applied in school. It would make the lessons much more fun. In my humble opinion. Of course, you won't easily remember most of the words in this book, unless you put your mind to it and study them. But it's a fun reference work, one you'll pick up now and then, if only to have an entertaining read. ( )

1000 words you will never use. Not really funny and not that interesting. Somewhat intriguing because it shows what kind of things needed a name. ( )