Welcome to Halfman, Halfbook for my stop on the Blog Tour for The Cabinet of Calm by Paul Anthony Jones and published by Elliott & Thompson.
About the Book
For almost a decade, Paul Anthony Jones has written about the oddities and origins of the English language, amassing a vast collection of some of its more unusual words. Last year, doubly bereaved and struggling to regain his spirits, he turned to words – words that could be applied to difficult, challenging times and found solace. The Cabinet of Calm is the result.
Paul has unearthed fifty-one linguistic remedies to offer reassurance, inspiration and hope in the face of such feelings as grief and despair, homesickness and exhaustion, missing our friends and a loss of hope.
Written with a trademark lightness of touch, The Cabinet of Calm shows us that we’re not alone. From MELORISM, when you’re worried about the future of the world and AGATHISM, when you’re feeling disillusionment or struggling to remain positive to SELF-SOOTHE, when you’re struggling to sleep and STOUND, for when you’re grieving, someone else has felt like this before, and so there’s a word to help, whatever the challenge.
About the Author
Paul has a Masters in Linguistics and is a language blogger from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. His obsession with words began with a child’s dictionary he received as a Christmas present when he was eight years old. As @HaggardHawks he has tweeted obscure words since 2013 and now has a social media following of over 75k, including the likes of JK Rowling, Robert Macfarlane, Susie Dent, Richard Osman, Greg Jenner, Ian McMillan, Rufus Sewell, Simon Mayo, Michael Rosen and Cerys Matthews.
HaggardHawks.com brings together the entire HH network including a blog, books, quizzes & games, the 500 Words YouTube series, Instagram gallery and newsletter. He regularly contributes to the media.
My Review
In case you have been living in a forest in the middle of know where there is a lot going on at the moment. We are in the middle of a global pandemic at the moment, the planet is heating up dramatically and weather systems are becoming more extreme because of climate change. Politically we have the rise of nationalism in many countries and there is, of course, the UK’s special project, Brexit…
Some people have the ability for all these issues to just wash over them, shrugging off things that keep other people wide awake at night. But how to comfort those that need it? Well Paul Anthony Jones has just released The Cabinet of Calm. In here he has scoured the dustier corners of the dictionary to bring us words that will bring comfort to us when we are grieving, or in despair at the world around us, or have lost hope in everything.
Respair – the return of hope after a period of despair
All of these words that Jones has unearthed are a source of reassurance for those that seek solace in these troubled times within the pages of a book. In here you can learn what frowst means, words for when you are overcome with sadness or for those who often run out of weekend and you have the Monday morning blues. One very much for this moment in the middle of the pandemic and missing your friends is angel visits. If you’re in a bad mood following the news too, there is even a word coined by Dickens for a room to go and growl in.
As with his other books, it is a fascinating read, not only do you get the word, you get all the cultural and etymological background to each word and a raft of other much-underused words like sphexishness, forswunk and neiperty that you can add to your vocabulary. If you are a language addict then this is a must-read; however, its primary aim is to help those that are finding the real world all too much at the moment and I think that this will be a great help to them too.
Don’t forget to visit the other blogs on the blog tour
Buy this at your local independent bookshop. If you’re not sure where your nearest is then you can find one here
My thanks to Alison Menzies for the copy of the book to read.
I saw the review of this on Beck’s page and can’t believe I’d never heard of this chap as this is right up my street!
I have read almost all of his now. Really good, especially if you like language