Why Is This a Question? Everything about the origins and oddities of language you never thought to ask

Admittedly, that’ s probably a question that might never have occurred to you. But if you’ re even remotely interested in the origins and oddities of language, it’ s likely also a question you’ re now intrigued to know the answer to. Nor is it the only question: take a moment to think about how our language operates and even more spring mind. Why do these letters look the way they do? Why are some uppercase and others lowercase? Why are these words in this order? How are you understanding what these seemingly arbitrary shapes and symbols mean, while doubtless hearing them read to you in a voice inside your head? And what is this question mark really doing at this end of this sentence? Books explaining the origins of our most intriguing words and phrases have long proved popular, but they often overlook the true nuts and bolts of language: the origins of our alphabet and writing system; grammatical rules and conventions; the sound structure of language; and even how our brains and bodies interpret and communicate language itself. Why Is This a Question? is a fascinating and enlightening exploration of linguistic questions you’ ve likely never thought to ask.

Paul Anthony Jones is something of a linguistic phenomenon. He runs the popular @HaggardHawks Twitter feed, blog and YouTube channel, revealing daily word facts to 90,000 engaged followers. His books include: The Cabinet of Calm, Word Drops, The Accidental Dictionary, The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities, Around the World in 80 Words, as well as several other books on trivia and language. He appears regularly in the media and has contributed to the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries online. He lives in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Contents Preface xi Introduction: What Is the English Language? xv Q. 1 What Is a Word? 1 Q. 2 What Is a Language? 13 Q. 3 Where Do Languages Come From? 31 Q. 4 Where Do Words Come From? 55 Q. 5 What Is the Hardest Language to Learn? 73 Q. 6 Why Do Languages Have Genders? 89 Q. 7 Where Do Our Number Names Come From? 105 Q. 8 Why Is the Alphabet in ABC Order? 117 Q. 9 Why Do We Have Vowels and Consonants? 137 Q. 10 Why Do We Capitalise I? 149 Q. 11 Why Does i Have a Dot? 159 Q. 12 Why Is Q Always Followed by U? 169 Q. 13 Why Do We Have Double Letters? 179 Q. 14 Does Anything Rhyme with Orange? 189 Q. 15 Why Do Our Words Go in the Order They Do? 199 Q. 16 How Do We Read? 211 Q. 17 How Do We Speak? 223 Q. 18 How Do We Understand? 237 Q. 19 Why Is This a Question? 249 Q. 20 Why Do We Use Our Hands When We Talk? 265 Q. 14 Puzzles: The Solutions 277 References 281 Acknowledgements 287 Index 28