There seems to be no limit to the number of books that can be written about the less familiar byways of the English language. The Wonder of Whiffling, by the wonderfully-named Adam Jacot de Boinod, ventures further down these byways than most, being culled from a vast range of dictionaries – from the Oxford English Dictionary, to works on slang, dialect and subject-specific jargon. The content ranges from Middle English (chinchin) to 21st century slang (zoo daddy) by way of obsolete and dialect terms, and slang of all kinds. The book’s subtitle, And other extraordinary words in the English language is an apposite one, since Mr de Boinod has put together a collection of words and phrases that are extraordinary both in form and meaning, from airling (a young and thoughtless person) to vuddle (to spoil a child by injudicious petting), and from bubbly jock (a turkey) to snoach (to speak through the nose).

The book is divided into themed chapters with headings such as Stickybeak and Muttoners and Golden Ferrets. Fortunately, these are glossed in modern English (character and sport respectively). Each chapter contains a number of short sections that are loosely related to the theme, each preceded by a brief commentary. So the chapter on bodies, for example, contains sections on words and expressions that mean fat, thin, and short as well as words for ears, eyes and noses and other parts (I won’t reveal here what Twiddle-Diddles, which give the chapter its title, are!). There are also sections on facial hair, cosmetic surgery, and terms that mean left-handed.

There are many pleasurable discoveries to be made. Who knew, for example, that anyone would bother to have a word for that most useless of objects, a needle without an eye (a noraleg), or that there were so many words for turnip? I was charmed by the word charmings, though perhaps not so much by its meaning (paper or rag chewed into small pieces by mice). Some of the most appealingly colourful words are rare or obsolete: janjansy, for instance, is a Cornish word for a two-faced person, while a princock was what you called a pert, forward, saucy boy back in the 16th century. Not all the terms covered are obscure, and many of the more modern ones are in common parlance. For example, just the other day I was reading an example about cougars (older women who have a preference for younger men).

Each chapter is preceded by an apposite quotation – the one on love being ‘After your fling, watch for the sting’ – and ends with Word Journeys, showing how the meanings of words have changed over the decades and centuries (so we learn that stale used to mean old and strong, while constipate originally meant to crowd together in a narrow room). The book is nicely laid out and illustrated throughout with cartoons. Unfortunately there is no index, which means that this really is a book for browsing. If you want to know what whiffling is, you’ll have to scan through the book until you find it.

The Wonder of Whiffling
Adam Jacot de Boinod
Penguin
2009
ISBN 978-0-140-51585-5

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