Overview

When Chinese shopkeepers tried to find a written equivalent of Coca-Cola, one set of characters they chose was pronounced “ke-kou ke-la.” It sounded right, but it literally translated as “bite the wax tadpole.” Language, like travel, is always stranger than we expect and often more beautiful than we imagine. In Biting the Wax Tadpole Elizabeth Little takes a decidedly unstuffy and accessible tour of grammar via the languages of the world—from Lithuanian noun declensions and imperfective Russian verbs to Ancient Greek and Navajo. And in one of the most courageous acts in the history of popular grammar books, she attempts to provide an explanation of verbal aspect that people might actually understand. Other difficult and pressing questions addressed in Biting the Wax Tadpole include: *Just what, exactly, the Swedish names of IKEA products mean *Why Icelandic speakers must decide if the numbers 1-4 are plural *How Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) was able to take an otherwise unexceptional pair of breakfast foods and turn them into literary fodder for generations *Why Joanie Loves Chachi was Korea’s highest rated television show ever *Why Basque grammar seems downright kooky to just about anyone who isn’t a native speaker

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9780385527743

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Reviews

This is a fun book for grammar and pop-culture lovers alike. Little provides grammar basics and little-known facts by incorporating stories of her travels, Star Wars, Dr. Seuss, and other familiar icons. It's both a breezy read and a useful resource. --USAToday.com A delightful language scrapbook . . . I have found a kindred spirit in Elizabeth Little. --Chicago Tribune Charming anecdotes, witty sidebars, attractive illustrations . . . Little's strong sense of humor never overwhelms her love of languages in this fascinating yet educational introduction to linguistics for a wide, pop-savvy audience. --Publisher's Weekly This is a fun book for grammar and pop-culture lovers alike. Little provides grammar basics and little-known facts by incorporating stories of her travels, Star Wars , Dr. Seuss, and other familiar icons. It's both a breezy read and a useful resource. --USAToday.com A delightful language scrapbook . . . I have found a kindred spirit in Elizabeth Little. -- Chicago Tribune Charming anecdotes, witty sidebars, attractive illustrations . . . Little's strong sense of humor never overwhelms her love of languages in this fascinating yet educational introduction to linguistics for a wide, pop-savvy audience. -- Publisher's Weekly This is a fun book for grammar and pop-culture lovers alike. Little provides grammar basics and little-known facts by incorporating stories of her travels, Star Wars, Dr. Seuss, and other familiar icons. It's both a breezy read and a useful resource. --USAToday.com A delightful language scrapbook . . . I have found a kindred spirit in Elizabeth Little. -- Chicago Tribune Charming anecdotes, witty sidebars, attractive illustrations . . . Little's strong sense of humor never overwhelms her love of languages in this fascinating yet educational introduction to linguistics for a wide, pop-savvy audience. -- Publisher's Weekly A delightful language scrapbook. - Chicago Tribune Quirky, funny intelligent...Little had packed her work chock-full of the world's tantalizing linguistic nuggets. - Newsday A tour of all the quirk and queerness to be found among the world's many dialects. . . . Her meandering, highly readable riffs on Finnish prepositions and Incan counting systems manage to be funny, earnest, and not funny because of their earnestness- something of a feat for a book that could be used as a grammar primer. -The Onion A.V. Club A wrap-worthy language book. A multilingual voyage, exploring the 'quirks, innovations, and implausibilities' of the world's languages. - The Boston Globe This is a fun book for grammar and pop-culture lovers alike. Little provides grammar basics and little-known facts by incorporating stories of her travels, Star Wars, Dr. Seuss and other familiar icons. It's both a breezy read and a useful resource. -USAToday.com

This is a fun book for grammar and pop-culture lovers alike. Little provides grammar basics and little-known facts by incorporating stories of her travels, Star Wars, Dr. Seuss, and other familiar icons. It's both a breezy read and a useful resource. --USAToday.com<p> A delightful language scrapbook . . . I have found a kindred spirit in Elizabeth Little. -- Chicago Tribune <br> Charming anecdotes, witty sidebars, attractive illustrations . . . Little's strong sense of humor never overwhelms her love of languages in this fascinating yet educational introduction to linguistics for a wide, pop-savvy audience. -- Publisher's Weekly<br>

Author Information

ELIZABETH LITTLE is a writer and editor living in New York City. In 2003, she graduated from Harvard University with a degree in political science and language citations in Mandarin and Classical Chinese. She has worked as a literary agent and as a writer and editor for the Let’s Go guide to China, and her writing has appeared in the New York Times. This is her first book.

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