This is a great book for those who like words and their origins. The author describes not only their origins but also how words have come to have different meanings through the ages and sometimes more than one meaning. She also gives examples of words that nearly always appear in certain phrases, eg “figment” is usually used in the phrase “figment of your imagination”. There’s also a section on Shakespeare’s influence on the English language. To say any more would spoil the reader’s enjoyment of this fascinating book.

This book is so fun if you’re someone who often wonders about the origins of different words or how their meaning has changed over time. It’s a lot of ‘useless’ information delivered in a lighthearted, (sometimes funny) way.

I appreciate NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ecopy of this book to read and review.

Oh, I loved, loved, loved this!

To be fair, I've always found etymology fascinating. When you delve into the origin of words, you learn so much about history, culture, and (sometimes) scandals.

There is so much in this book that you might find yourself reading it a bit at a time, but it's all fascinating and so very interesting.

I learned so much and I also loved that the author talks about newer words. It was definitely fun throwing some Gen Z slang at my daughter and telling her the origins of those words and phrases.

Love this book!

This book gives a fun look at the origins of words that we use every day. It’s refreshingly self aware and down to earth and invites readers to experience language the way that the author does. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

This book helps me to understand where certain words originate, not all pieces of etymology is useless, all words are wonderful and incredible and I love to know the origins of everything.

This was an absolutely delightful book. It has a lovely tone which is engaging without being overly difficult. The word choices were great. While I had heard of some of them, most were completely new to me. My favourite part was the story around the rise of the word antidisestablishmentarianism. This is because I have my own history with the word (my mum taught me to spell it when I was 9 to beat an annoying boy at school) yet I didn’t know how it became so popular.

This is definitely a book that I will buy. If you have any interest in words, you will want to buy it too.

Thanks to the author, publishers & NetGalley for access to this ARC in return for an honest review.

really fun introducting to knowing more about etymology! i really enjoyed the subject of this book and it was a great introduction too.

Useless Etymology by Jess Zafarris is a fun and informative book full of engaging sections from the origins of etymology to the longest words you probably have never heard.

This book would be beneficial to English teachers, particularly AP English and advanced ESL.

At first I was annoyed that it wasn't just a book of factoids. As I started reading it and getting into it, I actually became fascinated with the histories and explanations. I feel like you have to be a certain kind of nerdy to really appreciate this book anyway, but I really enjoyed it.

A lovely book jam-packed of fun and interesting facts. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on colors, as the way societies tend to have developed the same track for describing the world around us is so weird and compelling.

This seems like the kind of book you want to have on your shelf just to break it out for a relevant chapter during a discussion!

I finished this book the same day I downloaded it because it truly was such a JOY to explore! My best friend and I both love linguistics, perhaps him more so than me, which is why I was so excited to get approved for this book and instantly moved to devour it. The way this book approaches the subject of linguistics and etymology is very accessible in my opinion— regardless of what "level" a reader may perceive themselves to be at when it comes to these topics, Zafarris structures/lays out the information plainly and in a way that feels both fun and engaging, while also still being wholly educational (+ I really loved all the little trivia and factoids interspersed throughout). This book is chalk-full of information and so worth the ready — I definitely plan to buy it for my BFF come pub day, rec it to all my fellow literary and linguistic nerds, and honestly think it would make for a perfect gift/"coffee table" book!

One of my special interests is the origin of words so I loved this! It's a fun read with lots of information and it explained one of my pet peeves—the silent letter

I enjoyed this a lot! It had a lot of really interesting facts and I learned a lot. It did get a bit monotonous at times, but it’s definitely a book for linguistic nerds!

DNF :(

I unfortunately was unable to finish this book. I am interested in etymology (the study of the origin and meaning of words) which is what drew my to this book. One of my favorite books growing up was L is for Lollygag: Quirky Words for a Clever Tongue, so a non-fiction book about words was up my alley.

Contrary to L is for Lollygag which has pictures and other engaging materials, this book is very dry and not well formatted in my opinion. The book consists of an endless list of words and their origins with some technical background on roots and linguistics, without seeming to connect under a theme. I skimmed ahead and saw that there are chapter groupings based on geographic origin or "etymology myths" however the collections of words chosen feel very disparate to the lay reader. It feels like reading a dictionary out of order, very disjointed.

I would rather have words chosen by common categories like "greetings" (hello, goodbye, howdy) or adjectives like colors (which came first, the color orange or the fruit?). It would make the content more digestible and impactful for the reader, rather than listing hundreds of words that I cannot retain or search for later as they are not alphabetically organized or otherwise easily identifiable.

If you are seriously interested in the origin of words then this book is for you. Perhaps I am not the target audience for it. I wish it was made for a wider audience as I'd love to read something suited more for lay people.

The book opens in a very fun way and moves us through etymology and introduction for the book and chapters, as well as throughout all the book seamlessly.
The explanation is easy to follow and understand.
It is fun and entertaining to through as it's full of "trivia and factoids" (read the book to understand the inside joke).
My only grievance is that I didn't feel there was a system to how we moved from word to word and theme to theme. Not to say it didn't make a sensible flow, just that I couldn't track a system of movement.
The book explained grammatical terminologies that are not encountered on daily basis in a clear and simple way, it definitely gave me more than I bargained for on that front.

I requested the book, well because I am a nerd, and because I wanted some inspiration. And it 💯 delivered!

I have no idea why I decided to pick up this book and I am very happy that I did. It was full of fun little facts and now I have new factoids to educate (and torture) my teenage children. I liked how the book was divided into sections and especially liked Part 3 and the origins of the more silly words.

This is exactly the type of informative but readable and enjoyable book I love.

I found it very engaging and interesting. It would be easy to dip in and out of, reading about just a few words - but I read most of it in one sitting!

There were so many facts and fascinating historical snippets which I am bound to be telling people for years to come.

Even for people that are new to this topic, it's a really recommendable, enjoyful book, It's packed with suprising facts and traces back everyday words to their (partly) unexpected origins. With so much to learn, it's both engaging and informative, yet at no point does the writing get dry or boring.

It's always nice to have fun while you learn, and this was definitely an entertaining and informative book.

I had so much fun with this, it's the perfect book for anyone who has an interest in etymology. The writing is quite engaging so you can learn more about the topic without getting bored