When Chinese shopkeepers tried to find a written equivalent of Coca-Cola, one set of characters they chose was pronounced "ke-kou ke-la." It sounded right, but it literally translated as "bite the wax tadpole."
Language, like travel, is always stranger than we expect and often more beautiful than we imagine. In Biting the Wax Tadpole Elizabeth Little takes a decidedly unstuffy and accessible tour of grammar via the languages of the world--from Lithuanian noun declensions and imperfective Russian verbs to Ancient Greek and Navajo. And in one of the most courageous acts in the...
When Chinese shopkeepers tried to find a written equivalent of Coca-Cola, one set of characters they chose was pronounced "ke-kou ke-la." It sounde...
- Winner of the Strand Critics Award for Best First Novel - Nominated for the Barry and Macavity Awards for Best First Novel - Longlisted for the CWA John Creasy (New Blood) Dagger Award"Quick-witted and fast-paced, this debut mystery should be a hit with Gone Girl fans." --People magazine "This is an all-nighter . . . The best debut mystery I've read in a long time."--Tana French "A really gutsy, clever, energetic read, often unexpected, always entertaining. I loved Janie...
- Winner of the Strand Critics Award for Best First Novel - Nominated for the Barry and Macavity Awards for Best First Novel ...
