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An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition
Contributor(s): Lipton, James (Author)

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 ISBN: 0140170960     ISBN-13: 9780140170962
Publisher: Penguin Books
OUR PRICE: $19.00  

Binding Type: Paperback - See All Available Formats & Editions
Published: November 1993
Qty:

Annotation: An "exaltation of larks"? Yes! And a "leap of leopards", a "parliament of owls", an "ostentation of peacocks", a "smack of jellyfish", and a "murder of crows"! For those who have ever wondered if the familiar "pride of lions" and "gaggle of geese" were only the tip of a linguistic iceberg, James Lipton has provided the definitive answer: here are hundreds of equally pithy, and often poetic, terms unearthed by Mr. Lipton in the Books of Venery that were the constant study of anyone who aspired to the title of gentleman in the fifteenth century. When Mr. Lipton's painstaking research revealed that five hundred years ago the terms of venery had already been turned into the Game of Venery, he embarked on an odyssey that has given us a "slouch of models", a "shrivel of critics", an "unction of undertakers", a "blur of Impressionists", a "score of bachelors", and a "pocket of quarterbacks". This ultimate edition of An Exaltation of Larks is Mr. Lipton's brilliant answer to the assault on language and literacy in the last decades of the twentieth century. In it you will find more than 1,100 resurrected or newly minted contributions to that most endangered of all species, our language, in a setting of 250 witty, beautiful, and remarkably apt engravings.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Spelling & Vocabulary
- Reference
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Alphabets & Writing Systems
Dewey: 428.1
LCCN: 90050425
Age Level: 18-UP
Grade Level: 13-UP
Physical Information: 0.87" H x 6.11" W x 9.28" L (0.93 lbs) 336 pages
Features: Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Price on Product
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
A delightfully unexpected, lovingly curated ode to the unique collective nouns that adorn our language, from "a leap of leopards" to "a murder of crows" and beyond, from the inimitable voice behind Inside the Actors Studio

"I am madly in love with collective nouns They make language so colorful and ticklish. . . . An Exaltation of Larks] possess es] an embarrassment of riches (wink wink )." --Lupita Nyong'o, The New York Times

For those who have wondered if the familiar "pride of lions" and "gaggle of geese" were merely the tip of a linguistic iceberg, James Lipton has provided a definitive answer: here are hundreds of equally pithy, often poetic terms he has unearthed and collected into one exhaustive volume. Over years of painstaking research, he embarked on an odyssey that has given us a "slouch of models," a "shrivel of critics," an "unction of undertakers," a "blur of Impressionists," a "score of bachelors," a "pocket of quarterbacks," and many more.

Witty, beautiful, and remarkably apt, An Exaltation of Larks is a brilliant compendium of more than 1,100 resurrected or newly minted contributions to that ever-evolving species, the English language.
 
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