A collection of word lists and factoids (a la Schott's Miscellany) about words, rather than essays or in depth discussions about the history or origins of the English language. So from that point of view the title is a bit misleading – more like “The Secret Affiliations of English Words”.

Unfortunately it's not always correct – the sections on regional coinages (why is it that so many books that discuss Australian slang get it wrong??) and peculiar proverbs, for example. Or the claim that Nelson's last words were “Kiss me Hardy / Kismet Hardy”. (Pretty thoroughly debunked by now!) Sometimes it feels as though the author has just pulled the ‘meaning’ out of the air, or had a wild guess and decided that it's close enough. And this strange lack of thoroughness crops up in other places too – in the section on homophones, for example, we get rain and reign, but not rein; so and sew, but not sow; and their and there, but not they're. Or the fact that we're told that ‘cleave’ is “the only word with two synonyms with opposite meanings” early on in the book, only to find a it (and nineteen others) in a list of ‘Janus words’ (defined as “words with contradictory meanings”) towards the end …

Having said that, it is an enjoyable volume, set out in an interesting way. Just don't rely on it if you ever need to phone a friend on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire … ( )

Martin Manser’s book should be bought in bulk because it is completely irresistible.

Subtitled The Secret Life of the English Language, this is a book of lists and language factoids, invaluable for reference or for the sheer pleasure of it.

Lists of famous pseudonyms include Mrs Daryl Walters: almost all of us have read some of her books — she was so popular at one stage that public libraries threatened to remove her from their shelves — but who actually knew Enid Blyton’s real name? Greek is the oldest living alphabet; and goddessship is the only word with a triple letter. This is a book to treasure. ( )