English nerd alert!

Being an English nerd, I am drawn to books on language. Did You Say Pears? a 2006 Tundra Book by Arlene Alda caught my attention because it seemed that’s what it would be. It fulfilled my expectations.

Sure enough, that’s what it was. The back matter even explains both homonyms (same spelling, different pronunciation, different meaning) and homophones (different spelling, same pronunciation, different meaning), even though the book is about homophones.

I liked this book. I was not tempted to stop reading–not by the occasionally forced rhyme or even by the subject/verb agreement issue brought in by rows/rose. (These problems were all in the homophone section.)

I think it could have been done better. It’s not my favorite book of this type. But it was good and had some great homonyms. I particularly liked glasses seeing and horns playing. Read the book and see what you think.

The back says that Ms. Alda is a grandmother of 7. I heard an interview with her husband once about how the two of them met. It was a great story about a cake being destroyed and eating it off the floor.

Okay, I admit to being a sucker for a long-term romance. The authors’ lives matter to me, when I know what they are. I will treasure this book not just for the best homonyms, but for the life Ms. Alda has lived.