The wonder of the English alphabet is that, with fewer letters than appear in the word “antidisestablishmentarianism,” it is possible to write the Encyclopædia Britannica. This is powerful mojo, and explains why writers have long savoured individual letters the way one relishes the discrete ingredients of a gourmet meal.
Letters came into their own as the stars of tiny books designed to educate the…
Warren Clements
Warren Clements wrote the Word Play column for The Globe and Mail from 1996 to 2012. His latest book is How to Get to Heaven and Back: A Romp Through a Century of Movies and TV Series about Heaven, Hell and Reincarnation (Nestlings Press, 2014).
Articles by
Warren Clements
Reimagining English
From globalization to the Internet, the strains on our language are enormous July–August 2008
The strength of the English language has long been its capacity to absorb whatever competing languages throw at it. This portmanteau of a tongue owes barbecue to Haitian, guru to Hindi, alcohol to Arabic, coffee to Turkish and Arabic, tea to Chinese and trousers to Irish Gaelic, not to mention its enormous early debt to Latin and the Germanic…