It seems that the editors of the New York Times' travel section have betrayed Elizabeth Little. They published her charming essay "Ablative, Allative, Adessive, Compulsive" (12/3/2007), but they failed to provide the expected plug for the new book that she presumably wrote the piece to promote: Biting the wax tadpole: confessions of a language fanatic.
What I expected -- and I expect that Ms. Little did as well -- was a sentence in italics at the end of the article, like the tag that appeared on an essay published today in the Health section: "Darshak Sanghavi is a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the author of "A Map of the Child: A Pediatrician's Tour of the Body." Perhaps the Gray Lady though that Little's title was somehow too suggestive to print?
I haven't read Biting the wax tadpole, but judging by Little's NYT essay, it should be fun -- even if her enthusiasm sometimes exceeds the boundaries of mere fact, as in her mention of "at least nine" Hungarian "locative cases", and the anecdote underlying her title, which appears to be an urban legend. It's nice to see a popular book about language that promotes (even inaccurate) enthusiasm about morphology and syntax as well as lexicography and etymology.
[Update -- a reader corrects me:
Actually, she accurately ascribes the "wax tadpole" not to Coke but to Chinese shopkeepers.
And her "nine Hungarian locatives" is actually eighteen Hungarian cases, with a sample declension of "bar", included in the context of jokingly worrying how to remember that you weren't in the bar or at the bar or even gone to the bar when you came home late and drunk.
It's an engaging little book, really.
I inferred the "engaging" part from her NYT essay, so I'm glad to hear her defended against the charge of over-enthusiasm. I've ordered the book, and will say more when I've read it.]
Posted by Mark Liberman at December 4, 2007 07:19 AM