"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."

“If you speak English, you speak at least a part of more than a hundred languages.”

“AWADies will be familiar with Anu Garg's refreshing approach to words: words are fun and they have fascinating histories.”

“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.”

“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?”

“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.”

“If you torture words enough, they'll confess to anything.”