From head to toe to breast to behind, Carnal Knowledge is a delightfully intoxicating tour of the words we use to describe our bodies. Did you know: - eye is one of the oldest written words in the English language?- callipygian means having beautiful buttocks?- gam, a slang word for leg, comes from the French word jambe? A treat for anyone who gets a kick out of words, Carnal Knowledge is also the perfect gift for anyone interested in the human body and the many (many, many) ways its been described. Delight your friends (or lose them rapidly) with this fabulous new knowledge presented with deftness and wit.---Lynn Truss, author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves and Talk to the Hand Master etymologist Charles Hodgson offers a passionate lesson...illuminates how just about every part of the amazing human chassis got its name.---Richard Lederer, author of Word Wizard A near-perfect body of work that will not only entertain your brain but tickle your funny bone, too.---Erin McKean, editor in chief, The New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd ed.) And you thought you knew your own body! A captivating trove of facts and history that will amuse and fascinate.--- Jane Farrow, Wanted Words, CBC Radio