02797cam a2200385 i 4500 650980030 TxAuBib 20100526120000.0 090303s2009||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2009008306 9780803734067 hardcover 0803734069 hardcover (OCoLC)277203425 DLC eng rda DLC BTCTA TEF UPZ VP@ XY4 UBY EHH LAKCL TxAuBib rda Dubosarsky, Ursula, 1961- Word spy. Word spy. The word snoop / Ursula Dubosarsky ; illustrated by Tohby Riddle. New York, NY : Dial Books, 2009. 246 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Previously published under title: The word spy, 2008. How it all began: First alphabet -- English alphabet -- Let's change the alphabet -- Invent your own alphabet -- Shorthand -- Why is English so strange?: Silent letters -- Invention of printing -- American spelling -- Plurals -- Hooray for Anglo-Saxon! -- Shakespeare and the bible -- Dots and dashes, interrobangs and cat's claws: Punctuation -- Punctuation: signs & symbols -- Comma, colon: period. -- Question mark -- Exclamation mark -- Interrobang -- Quotation marks -- Apostrophe -- Punctuation in other languages -- Punctuation: do we need it? -- Letters, letters, letters: Anagrams -- Pangrams -- Lipograms -- Acronyms -- LLL (Latin, Latin, Latin) -- Well-mannered acronyms -- Dot dot dot -- And finally the backronym... -- Is that another Greek word?: Palindromes -- Mnemonics -- Oxymorons -- Who likes playing games?: Pig Latin -- Rebus -- Rhyming slang -- Say that again!: Puns -- Homophones -- Mondegreens -- Onomatopoeia -- Tongue twisters -- Portmanteau words -- Hmm, I wonder that you're really saying...: Euphemisms -- Don't mention it -- Doublespeak -- Cliches -- Tautology -- Is that a real person?: Nicknames -- Eponyms -- Spoonerisms -- Tom Swifties -- Malapropisms -- Pen names -- Back to the future: Telegramese -- Texting, LOL, Leet and more -- Smileys. A tour of the English language from the beginning of the alphabet in 4000 BC to modern text messaging and emoticons. 990L Lexile. Accelerated Reader AR MG 6.3 4 130573. 20100526. A Junior Library Guild selection. English language History Juvenile literature. English language History. Riddle, Tohby, illustrator. https://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0906/2009008306-d.html Publisher description LAKCL