Mark Forsyth

As a self-described journalist, proofreader, ghostwriter and pedant,[15] Forsyth started a blog called the Inky Fool in 2009[14][16][17] 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.[17] "Etymology is fun," Forsyth said in a Skepticality 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."[16]

The popularity of Inky Fool led to Forsyth's first book publishing deal[18] in 2011 with Icon Books.[14][19] 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,[18] and explores the strange connections between words[20] in a stream-of-consciousness fashion.[21] The book's title, originally called Point Blank Check Mate: The Inky Fool's Book of Word Association,[14] references the poet John Milton who purportedly invented the word "etymologicon" to describe a book containing etymologies.[14] The book's structure leads the reader to "unexpected coinages and devious linkages, sexy, learned and satisfyingly obscure."[22] It is, according to reviewer Karin Schimke, "a cursory run through history presented with a wry eye and a peculiar sense of humor."[21] Reviewer Robert McCrum wrote, "Not since Eats, Shoots & Leaves has a book about language...attracted so much attention in bookshops, running through successive reprints."[15] The Etymologicon was a Sunday Times No. 1 Bestseller in January 2012.[23]

While The Etymologicon falls into the category of edutainment,[17] the examples Forsyth includes in the book are well researched and supported by evidence.[24] His goal was to include as much scholarly information as "lightly" as possible.[14] Forsyth researches words and phrases as far back to their original sources as he can find.[24] "Often, the joy of the research," he said in a Chicago Tribune 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."[25]

In The Etymologicon, Forsyth cautions against what he calls "the danger of inductive reasoning"[16] 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.[16]

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."[3][26] Many of these words are no longer in use, such as snollygoster, durgeon and frumples.[18] To avoid having his list of words "form what is technically known as a dictionary,"[18] Forsyth arranges The Horologicon or Book of Hours[27] according to the hours in a day:[17][18][27][28][29] from dawn, through breakfast, commuting, office life, shopping, going out drinking and stumbling home.[18] 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."[17] 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."[28]

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,[30] The Elements of Eloquence outlines 38 rhetorical figures[31] (e.g., hyperbole,[30] epizeuxis,[32] catachresis[4]) that, according to Forsyth, can be learned by almost anybody.[31] Forsyth uses examples from William Shakespeare,[31] Lord Byron,[32] Winston Churchill,[32] Lord Tennyson,[32] Lewis Carroll,[32] Quentin Tarantino,[32] John Lennon[32][33] and Katy Perry[32][33] to reveal "the secrets" behind memorable lines and phrases.[30] 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."[32]

Forsyth's essay Unknown Unknown: Bookshops and the Delight of Not Getting What You Wanted was a special commission for Independent Booksellers Week.[34][35] and celebrates the discoveries one can make at independent bookshops.[35][36] In his essay, Forsyth makes the case for the lost pleasures of undirected browsing[37] that cannot be achieved with an internet search.[38] Reviewer Matthew Parris 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.[39]

A Christmas Cornucopia: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Yuletide Traditions was published on 3 November 2016.

A Short History of Drunkenness came out on 6 September 2018.

• A Short History of Drunkenness (Penguin Books Ltd, 2017) ISBN 978-0-241-29768-1
• The Unknown Unknown: Bookshops and the Delight of Not Getting What You Wanted (Icon Books, 2014) ISBN 978-1-848-31784-0
• The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase (Icon Books, 2013) ISBN 978-1-848-31621-8 and (Berkley Trade, 2014) ISBN 978-0-425-27618-1
• Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language (Icon Books, 2012) ISBN 978-1-848-31415-3 and (Berkley Trade, 2013) ISBN 978-0-425-26437-9
• The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language (Icon Books, 2011) ISBN 978-1-848-31307-1 and (Berkley Trade, 2012) ISBN 978-0-425-26079-1

• Where to find answers to questions you didn't ask (The Independent, 29 June 2014)[47]
• The Poetry of the Trading Floor, Going Beyond Bears and Bulls (The New York Times, 14 April 2014)[48]
• Bloody 'L' (The Independent, 15 February 2014)[49]
• Save the soundbite! MARK FORSYTH (The Spectator, 23 November 2013)[50]
• The Turkey's Turkey Connection (The New York Times, 27 November 2013)[51]
• 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)[52]
• 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)[53]

• The Servant (The Spectator, 13 December 2014)[54]