BOOK REVIEW: The Little Book Of Lost Words by Joe Gillard

BOOK REVIEW: The Little Book Of Lost Words by Joe Gillard

Allen & Unwin
October 2019
Hardcover, $19.99
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Dictionary
90%

Joe Gillard is on a mission to resurrect a slew of lost words with this adorable and oft-hilarious little book, and who better to do so that the founder of History Hustle a digital publication for history fans with over 320,000 followers and 40 million video views.

Not only has he exhumed a plethora of weird and wonderful old words, he pairs them delightfully with old portraits and uses the words in appropriately modern contexts in an example.

The result is a hoot.

Akrasia (Ancient Greek) – The act of knowing you shouldn’t be doing something, but doing it anyway. Deliberately acting against good judgement. Ie: “Was it akrasia for him to get drunk at his boss’s kid’s birthday party? Maybe, but bouncing castles aren’t as fun when you’re sober.”

Amphigory (19th century English) – A piece of writing that appears to have meaning but is really just foolish nonsense. Ie: “His poetry was amphigory; it read like a late-night Trump tweet.”

Your mission, folks, should you choose to accept it, is to include these words in your everyday conversations! Possibly after a doundrin or two.

Doundrins (17th century English) – Afternoon drinks. Ie: “After the divorce, Kevin was susceptible to doundrins of ‘a cheeky chardonnay.’”

That shouldn’t be too difficult with ninnyhammer (a fool) but good luck sliding Wamblecropt (severe digestive discomfort) into polite conversation!

Category: Book Reviews