Words Fail Me Book

'Why does monosyllabic have five syllables?'
'Being blunt can result in cutting remark.'

If the English language is a product this book is a compilation of customer complaints. It records complaints of erratic and erroneous logic behind some English words in a neatly designed hard-cover book. Albeit the title expresses disappointment and angst, the content is all about amusing wordplay arranged in minimalistic graphic of red, white, and black, without any tinge of exasperation from the author.

This book is quite a delightful read. But I am sorry that this is a coffee table book and not a normal book. By being a coffee table book, it missed the chance to go deep with the subject, for books in coffee table category does not allow the subject to get too deep (taxing for the mind).

I love some coffee table books. Mostly the visual ones, like Daido Moriyama picture books for example, or Nobuyoshi Araki's Tokyo Lucky Hole, for pictures have an indefinite depth about them'you can stare them for ages and still find something new. But this, words-laced-with-graphic-coffee table book, is different. There is just something very wrong seeing a tiny 5-letter-word cowering in the centre of a page surrounded by a great white space.

It is also tough to stare at a word for a long time and finding something else than the meaning of the word itself. This shortcoming results a very brief reading (15 minutes or less).

That being said, there is one chapter of the book that's worth a special mention: Antigrams, which is the opposite of anagrams, that means a word or phrase that is formed by rearranging the letters of another but having a direct opposite meaning or contradiction. Here are some examples:

astronomers ' no more stars
within earshot ' I won't hear this
silent ' listen
violence ' nice love
and so on

I just marvel at these revelations (inventions?) and wondered how the author can come up with these antigrams. How many else are there? There could be more, I guess. And any of us can find more with the blessing of happy accidents.

This book is a testament that language, created by humans, sometimes can be illogical and inefficient just like humans do. I imagine it would be nice to have this book on a stylish table in the drawing room to entertain important guests, for the book's brief and stylish wit may whet a long, intelligent conversation.