Elster is, among other things, a logophile--a lover of words. In this compendium of language conundrums and curiosities, he explains how we get words like skosh, meaning "a little bit" (it entered the English language in the 1950s during the Korean War, being Korean pidgin from Japanese sukoshi), and comes up with new words: when asked for a word for the awkward pulling in of the knees in order to let someone by, he concocts the delightful genusuction. In addition to clarification on the usual suspects--lay and lie, i.e. and e.g.--every chapter features brainteasers, puzzles, literary trivia, and truly horrible puns.