Crazy About Words

Insightful and humorous, these short essays cover the waterfront of topics for readers who find the English language fascinating: Words lost and gained, the “Dictionary Wars,” Redundancy, Greek debt, Ink Horn terms, Mondegreens, Words as madeleines, Silent Knights, and 4-letter words, are but a few examples. The author uses poetry, literature, and notable quotes to illustrate. He urges readers not to commit “lexicide” but to help keep words alive by using them, and to invent their own words when necessary.

Joe Mc Kay studied Latin and French extensively in High School. Later, at Cornell University, his own New York accent yielded to a kind of non-descript Midwestern sound that attendees at his lectures hear today. After graduation he chucked his provincialism altogether as he travelled widely, including living for a time in Germany and Ecuador. Following a career in labor relations and human resources with Pan American Airways and Avon Products, and as a founding partner of an HR consulting firm, he turned avidly to the study of words, language and literature. “Crazy About Words” was born in 2003.