We all use language to communicate information, but it is language play which is truly central to our lives...

Verbal fireworks are a vital part of flirting with potential partners and putting down rivals. Healthy couples, families and groups of friends splatter their conversations with funny voices, in-jokes, invented words or (even more outrageous and far-fetched) 'ping-pong punning'. Yet despite their importance many linguist teachers and other language professionals virtually ignore the playful elements of language.

In this scholarly but exhilarating and often hilarious tour de force, David Crystal brilliantly redresses the balance. He examines why we devote so much time and energy to language games; how professionals - from comedians and copywriters to theologians - make a career of them; how children as young as three or four instinctiveley display skills which virtually no one ever manages to acquire in a foreign language; and the implications for effective teaching of reading, writing and grammar.