Anu Garg

Anu Garg (born April 5, 1967) is an American author, speaker, and columnist. He is the founder of Wordsmith.org, an online community of wordlovers. He writes about language, words and their origins.

Quotes

 * I have a dream where society will replace guns with dictionaries.


 * We're all surrounded by words like air, and we all need them even though they are often invisible, just like air.


 * English never met a word it didn't like.
 * On English's propensity to borrow words from other languages, quoted in


 * There are exotic species of words jumping out inviting me to play. I weave them into a theme, a garland of words.


 * Browsing the OED is the idea of a perfect day for me.


 * A large vocabulary is like an artist having a big palette of colors. We don't have to use all the colors in a single painting, but it helps to be able to find just the right shade when we need it.
 * The Philomath Speaks An Interview with Anu Garg (Dec 15, 2009)


 * The best way to enrich vocabulary is organically, by coming across words in their natural habitat, taking the time to learn about them, their histories, and making lifelong friends with them.
 * The Philomath Speaks An Interview with Anu Garg (Dec 15, 2009)


 * A right word is the most direct route between two minds.
 * A.Word.A.Day (Feb 17, 2014)




 * [T]hat's how a language grows. Old words die - or take on a new life. New words appear. Language wordstock is replenished, refreshed, and the language remains vibrant and serviceable, ready to describe new concepts, ideas, and objects. Many language purists object to this way of growth. But we have to remember that just as yesterday's liberal is often tomorrow's conservative, in many cases, what was considered slang in the past, eventually acquires respectability.

As quoted in


 * A lex icon.
 * Describing the Oxford English Dictionary in


 * A word in the head is worth two in the book.
 * A.Word.A.Day (May 7, 2007)


 * For as long as I can recall, I enjoyed reading. I literally read books from cover to cover. Then I started wondering where words come from. Who made them up? Who said that that opening in a wall was to be called a window? Then I discovered that each word comes with a biography. These words have fascinating stories to tell, if only we take the time to listen. For example, the word window comes from Old Norse in which it meant wind's eye. How much more poetic can you get?




 * If you speak English, you speak at least a part of more than a hundred languages.
 * As quoted in


 * Overall, the universe's apostrophe store stays in balance. It seems our linguistic world was intelligently designed -- for every gratuitous apostrophe there's an instance where it's omitted.
 * A.Word.A.Day (Sep 3, 2012)


 * All the life's wisdom can be found in anagrams. Anagrams never lie.
 * In Internet Anagram Server


 * If you torture words enough, they'll confess to anything.
 * On Finding Great Anagrams


 * Like a human being, each word has a story. To understand a word, we need to learn where it was born, what paths it took to reach where it is today and how it has changed along the way.


 * Do the best job I can, not hurt our fellow beings on this planet, that's my religion.
 * A.Word.A.Day (Jan 17, 2011)


 * When life gives you lemons make melons.
 * Facebook post alluding to anagrams


 * The verb "fuck" has been a part of the language since at least early 1500s. The actual practice, far longer. So, no need to be embarrassed of either.
 * Facebook post


 * Q: What language is not written in French? A: Sanskrit. In French, it's known as sanskrit or sanscrit, which you can interpret as sans (without) + écrit (written)   https://www.facebook.com/wordsmithorg/posts/10157813707206840


 * Scientifically speaking, an overweight person is more attractive than a skinny one. Newton's Law of Gravitation.
 * Facebook post


 * Eyes are verbs that conjugate the emotions.


 * Silk Road in the I century AD - en.svgPeople travel. Words travel. People settle in new lands and so do words. Did I hear someone say they wanted to make walls, close off people from one another? Here’s to more travel, more mixing, more migration, more import and export, and more sweetness in our lives!

About Anu Garg

 * Only Anu Garg, the founder of Wordsmith.org, can make word facts this much fun.


 * Anu Garg triggers the kind of passionate reaction that actors, authors and memoirists would die for.


 * Garg works in the great tradition of Wilfred Funk and Norman Lewis... Garg, however, is more fun.


 * AWADies will be familiar with Anu Garg's refreshing approach to words: words are fun and they have fascinating histories.
 * John Simpson, Chief Editor, Oxford English Dictionary, quoted on the back cover of