Mark Forsyth (born 2 April 1977)
is a British writer of non-fiction who came to prominence with a series of books concerning the meaning and etymology of English words.
He is the author of best-selling
books ''
The Etymologicon'', ''
The Horologicon'', and ''
The Elements of Eloquence
''The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase'' is a non-fiction book by Mark Forsyth published in 2013. The book explains classical rhetoric, dedicating each chapter to a rhetorical figure with examples of its use, particula ...
'', as well as being known for his blog
The Inky Fool
Mark Forsyth (born 2 April 1977) is a British writer of non-fiction who came to prominence with a series of books concerning the meaning and etymology of English words.
He is the author of best-selling books ''The Etymologicon'', ''The Horolog ...
.
Forsyth's earlier work was based around the meaning of words and more specifically, obscure and out-of-use words. His first two books were featured on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's series
Book of the Week
''Book of the Week'' is a BBC Radio 4 series that is broadcast daily on week days. Each week, extracts from the selected book, usually a non-fiction work, are read over five episodes; each fifteen-minute episode is broadcast in the morning (9:45a ...
.
In June 2012, Forsyth gave a
TEDX talk entitled "What’s a snollygoster? A short lesson in political speak".
Education
Forsyth attended
Winchester College
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...
in Winchester, Hampshire, England
from 1990 to 1995.
He also studied English Language & Literature at
Lincoln College, Oxford University from 1996
to 1999.
Career
The Inky Fool
As a self-described journalist, proofreader, ghostwriter and pedant,
Forsyth started a blog called the ''Inky Fool'' in 2009
as a forum to share his love of words. His posts often involve an exploration of words; where they come from and how they relate to each other.
"Etymology is fun," Forsyth said in a ''
Skepticality
''Skepticality'' is the official podcast of The Skeptics Society's ''Skeptic'' magazine. Beginning in May 2005, the podcast explores rational thought, skeptical ideas, and famous myths from around the world and throughout history. Each episode i ...
'' interview, "Some people talk about the true meaning. I just find it interesting and delightful and often just very, very funny. That's the main thing I love about etymology."
''The Etymologicon''
The popularity of ''Inky Fool'' led to Forsyth's first book publishing deal
in 2011 with Icon Books.
In ''The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connection of The English Language,'' Forsyth explains the meanings and derivations of well-known words and phrases,
and explores the strange connections between words
in a stream-of-consciousness fashion.
The book's title, originally called ''Point Blank Check Mate: The Inky Fool's Book of Word Association'',
references the poet
John Milton who purportedly invented the word "etymologicon" to describe a book containing etymologies.
The book's structure leads the reader to "unexpected coinages and devious linkages, sexy, learned and satisfyingly obscure."
It is, according to reviewer
Karin Schimke
Karin Schimke (born 1968) is a South African writer. She has won awards for her poetry and literary translations. She works as a writer and editor.
Early life
Karin Schimke was born in1968 in Pretoria, South Africa to a German father and Afr ...
, "a cursory run through history presented with a wry eye and a peculiar sense of humor."
Reviewer
Robert McCrum
John Robert McCrum (born 7 July 1953) is an English writer and editor, holding senior editorial positions at Faber and Faber over seventeen years, followed by a long association with ''The Observer''.
Early life
The son of Michael William McC ...
wrote, "Not since ''
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
''Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation'' is a non-fiction book written by Lynne Truss, the former host of BBC Radio 4's '' Cutting a Dash'' programme. In the book, published in 2003, Truss bemoans the state of punct ...
'' has a book about language...attracted so much attention in bookshops, running through successive reprints."
''The Etymologicon'' was a
''Sunday Times'' No. 1 Bestseller in January 2012.
While ''The Etymologicon'' falls into the category of
edutainment
Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainmen ...
,
the examples Forsyth includes in the book are well researched and supported by evidence.
His goal was to include as much scholarly information as "lightly" as possible.
Forsyth researches words and phrases as far back to their original sources as he can find.
"Often, the joy of the research," he said in a ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' interview, "is finding examples of the original usages that have been lost for centuries. For example, humble pie used to be umble pie because the umbles were the innards of a deer (so it was the poor man's equivalent of venison pie). I actually found a recipe book from 1727 deep in the bowels of the British Library that gave instructions on how to make it. So I did. And it was delicious."
In ''The Etymologicon'', Forsyth cautions against what he calls "the danger of inductive reasoning"
when determining the commonality among diverse languages. Some patterns in language, he asserts, are mere coincidence and linguists meticulously document specific examples of word and sound changes to determine whether or not disparate languages are, indeed, connected.
''The Horologicon''
''The Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language'' is Forsyth's second book and contains "weird words for familiar situations."
Many of these words are no longer in use, such as ''snollygoster'', ''durgeon'' and ''frumples''.
To avoid having his list of words "form what is technically known as a dictionary,"
Forsyth arranges ''The Horologicon'' or Book of Hours
according to the hours in a day:
from dawn, through breakfast, commuting, office life, shopping, going out drinking and stumbling home.
Forsyth believes some of these words should be revived: "Never mind the puzzled looks," he says, "just use them. Throw them into conversation as often as possible."
A reviewer in ''The Daily Telegraph'' wrote: "From ''ante-jentacular'' to ''snudge'' by way of ''quafftide'' and ''wamblecropt'', at last you can say, with utter accuracy, exactly what you mean."
''The Elements of Eloquence''
''The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase'' is Forsyth's third book. Described as a writer's tool-kit or recipe book,
''The Elements of Eloquence'' outlines 38 rhetorical figures
(e.g.,
hyperbole
Hyperbole (; adj. hyperbolic ) is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally 'growth'). In poetry and oratory, it emphasizes, evokes strong feelings, and ...
,
epizeuxis
In rhetoric, epizeuxis is the repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession, typically within the same sentence, for vehemence or emphasis. A closely related rhetorical device is diacope, which involves word repetition that is broken ...
,
catachresis
Catachresis (from Greek , "abuse"), originally meaning a semantic misuse or error—e.g., using "militate" for "mitigate", "chronic" for "severe", "travesty" for "tragedy", "anachronism" for "anomaly", "alibi" for "excuse", etc.—is also the n ...
) that, according to Forsyth, can be learned by almost anybody.
Forsyth uses examples from
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
,
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...
,
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
,
Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
,
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...
,
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...
,
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
and
Katy Perry to reveal "the secrets" behind memorable lines and phrases.
One reviewer wrote: "It's doubtful that if more people knew Forsyth's ''The Elements of Eloquence'', the world would be a better place, but it would certainly sound a great deal better."
''The Unknown Unknown''
Forsyth's essay ''Unknown Unknown: Bookshops and the Delight of Not Getting What You Wanted'' was a special commission for Independent Booksellers Week.
and celebrates the discoveries one can make at independent bookshops.
In his essay, Forsyth makes the case for the lost pleasures of undirected browsing
that cannot be achieved with an internet search.
Reviewer
Matthew Parris
Matthew Francis Parris (born 7 August 1949) is a British political writer and broadcaster, formerly a Conservative Member of Parliament. He was born in South Africa to British parents.
Early life and family
Parris is the eldest of six childre ...
wrote:
: As any sub-editor knows, and too few columnists acknowledge, a good headline can say it all. Mark Forsyth, whose passion is words, and whose book, ''The Etymologicon'', proved probably the best-selling title in history that nobody can pronounce, has written an essay in booklet form to adorn the tables of Britain's bookshops. Its title page tells you succinctly why it should. The ''Unknown Unknown'', it's called, and its subtitle is "Bookshops and the delight of not getting what you wanted." Not since I engaged a company called Difficult Access Cranes Ltd has the point been made before, as it were, you've even opened the tin.
''A Christmas Cornucopia''
''A Christmas Cornucopia: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Yuletide Traditions'' was published on 3 November 2016.
''A Short History of Drunkenness''
''A Short History of Drunkenness'' came out on 6 September 2018.
Other books
Forsyth wrote the introduction for the new edition of ''
Collins English Dictionary
The ''Collins English Dictionary'' is a printed and online dictionary of English. It is published by HarperCollins in Glasgow.
The edition of the dictionary in 1979 with Patrick Hanks as editor and Laurence Urdang as editorial director, wa ...
''.
In it, he notes "There are few pastimes in life as pleasurable and profitable as reading the dictionary. The plot is, of course, rather weak, and the moral of the whole thing slightly elusive; but for my money there isn't another book that comes close to it."
He also wrote a short chapter, "Who Named All the Cities,"
for a book compiled by Gemma Elwin Harris called ''Big Questions from Little People Answered by Some Very Big People''.
Radio appearances and TED Talk
* "A Christmas Cornucopia" BBC Radio 4 (18 December 2016)
* ''Lost Words and Secret Connections'' BBC Radio 4 (13 September 2016)
* ''Why Read Dictionaries with David Astle and Mark Forsyth'' Radio National (26 May 2013)
* ''What's a snollygoster? A short lesson in political speak'' TED talk (August, 2012)
* ''Do we overuse 'literally'?'' BBC Radio 4 (12 March 2012)
* ''Painting the Forth Bridge 'finished BBC Radio 4 (9 December 2011)
Bibliography
Books
* ''A Short History of Drunkenness'' (Penguin Books Ltd, 2017)
* ''The Unknown Unknown: Bookshops and the Delight of Not Getting What You Wanted'' (Icon Books, 2014)
* ''The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase'' (Icon Books, 2013) and (Berkley Trade, 2014)
* ''Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language'' (Icon Books, 2012) and (Berkley Trade, 2013)
* ''The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language'' (Icon Books, 2011) and (Berkley Trade, 2012)
Articles
* ''Where to find answers to questions you didn't ask'' (The Independent, 29 June 2014)
* ''The Poetry of the Trading Floor, Going Beyond Bears and Bulls'' (The New York Times, 14 April 2014)
* ''Bloody 'L (The Independent, 15 February 2014)
* ''Save the soundbite! MARK FORSYTH'' (The Spectator, 23 November 2013)
* ''The Turkey's Turkey Connection'' (The New York Times, 27 November 2013)
* ''OMG, Cupid - this is the written word's golden age: Far from destroying literacy, the social media have given writing a new importance, especially in the art of wooing, says Mark Forsyth'' (Sunday Times, 28 October 2012)
* ''Tin tacks, syntax and Chinese sensibility: What a nation puts in its dictionaries tells us far more about it than history books ever can'' (The Daily Telegraph, 17 July 2012)
Fiction
Short Stories
* ''The Servant'' (The Spectator, 13 December 2014)
Quotes
*''When ink-stained etymologists are being jetted around the world and interviewed on television you know that something has gone horribly, horribly awry.''
* ''Rhetoric, classically speaking, is the whole art of persuasion. Everything from your argument to your hand gestures, right up to the argumentum ad baculum or argument by stick, which involves hitting somebody until they agree with you. But in the age of the soundbite, it's a much simpler business. Gone are the logical proofs, and the structure of an argument. What's left are the rhetorical tricks that can be applied to one sentence, the pullquote. Kennedy knew this. All you have to do is take the first half of the sentence and say it backwards and you're the hero of the Free World. That's chiasmus.''
* ''What I love about etymology is not the grand theories but the strange back alleys and extraordinary and ridiculous journeys that words take.''
* Of his book ''Horologicon,'' Forsyth said: ''It is for the words too beautiful to live long, too amusing to be taken seriously, too precise to become common, too vulgar to survive polite society, or too poetic to thrive in the age of prose.''
* ''There's absolutely no point in historians getting indignant about language. It's never going to stop changing – they're trying to hold back the tide like the Luddites.''
* ''Politics and advertising have always had a lot in common. They are both despised. They are both necessary if you want to shift the public. And they both rely on the consumer not knowing the figures of rhetoric.''
* ''Only in the bookshop, in the Good Bookshop, can you stumble across the book that you never knew you wanted, that will answer all the questions that you never knew to ask. It is there, waiting, but you cannot find it by searching. You must find it by chance. Somewhere on the shelf at the back, over to the right.''
* ''There is more to life than the figures of rhetoric; I just don't think there is much more.''
References
External links
The Inky Fool Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forsyth, Mark
1977 births
Living people
English non-fiction writers
Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford
British short story writers
Etymologists
English bloggers
English male non-fiction writers
British male short story writers
British male bloggers