Words Fail Me

In 2004, Lynne Truss' little book on punctuation, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, was a surprise hit. The Sudoku craze swept the country in 2005. This year, why not challenge your brain with words instead of numbers? WORDS FAIL ME by Teresa Monachino, is a collection of mind-teasing wordplay designed to artfully manipulate the unpredictability of the English language.

Award-winning designer and typographer Teresa Monachino has always been baffled by the English language's contradictions and peculiarities. Words do not mean what they say--the middle letters of believe spell lie. Words have the same spelling but differ in both pronunciation and meaning--minute is both miniscule and a measurement of time. Words are paired together redundantly--empty space or honest truth. WORDS FAIL ME is a witty collection of these unruly words, all set in Monachino's immaculate typography, that demonstrate the offbeat nature of the English language.

Questions of spelling, pronunciation or the blatantly nonsensical are illustrated through clever visual representations that are created entirely through artfully manipulated typography. This playful and sometimes hilarious text sorts the homonyms from the heteronyms and introduces the `antigram' (demonstrating how the swift shuffle of certain letters can create words that entirely contradict the first: honestly becomes on the sly, earliest becomes rise late and, fabulously, Elvis= lives!). Each chapter reveals, explains Monachino, how "English hoodwinks us into believing one thing while concealing something quite different. All is not what it seems."

Using striking and witty graphic design the author turns these tricky words into mind-bending puzzles, demanding answers to such troublesome questions as, why is abbreviation such a long word, does monosyllabic really need five syllables and why is lisp so hard to say if you have one?

This quirky little book was first inspired by Monachino's Italian mother, who `finds the nearest English word to the one she wants and uses that.' Her mother's uncertain grasp and questioning of the English language, continuously left Monachino befuddled with no logical explanation to these inconsistencies. WORDS FAIL ME is her attempt to bring these illogical ideas to the forefront. Whether you are a crossword lover, wordsmith, designer or simply fascinated with words, this handbook is a visual treat sure to leave you scratching your head.