“If you enjoy the naming of parts you will adore this book. The next time someone says “I know it like the back of my hand”, you can say “Or, you could say you know it like your opisthenar!” Delight your friends (or lose them rapidly) with this fabulous new knowledge, presented by Charles Hodgson with deftness and wit.”

LYNNE TRUSS, AUTHOR OF EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES
and TALK TO THE HAND

“A near-perfect body of work that will not only entertain your brain but tickle your funny bone, too.”

ERIN MCKEAN, EDITOR IN CHIEFOF
THE NEW OXFORD AMERICAN DICTIONARY
and EDITOR OF
VERBATIM: THE LANGUAGE QUARTERLY

“Everybody’s body is so close to them that they take it for granted. In Carnal Knowledge, master etymologist Charles Hodgson offers a passionate lesson in body language that illuminates how just about every part of the amazing human chassis got its name.”

RICHARD LEDERER, PAST HOST OF NPR’s A WAY WITH WORDS
and AUTHOR OF MANY BOOKS INCLUDING
ANGUISHED ENGLISH
and MOST RECENTLY
WORD WIZARD

“More than a list of anatomical words and their meanings, Hodgson’s book fleshes out the meaning behind the words. This is a blood-and-guts encyclopedia, not some bone-dry dictionary. Even misologists (haters of knowledge) will find pleasure in Carnal Knowledge.”

ROBERT HARTWELL FISK, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER OF
THE VOCABULA REVIEW
and AUTHOR OF
THE DICTIONARY OF DISAGREEABLE ENGLISH

“Like the tiny submarine in the 1966 film classic Fantastic Voyage, Charles Hodgson’s Carnal Knowledge takes us on a strange and wonderful tour through the human body. Here, though, the vessel is language itself: the body of words that we use to describe the various lobes, appendages, organs, and squishy things that we are made out of. Until I read Carnal Knowledge, I had no idea that my gnathion and menton were one and the same, that dandruff used to be called furfur, or that the first recipient of a cornea transplant was an antelope. Always witty, and ever informative, Carnal Knowledge puts the fun back in fundament!”

MARK MORTON, AUTHOR OF CUPBOARD LOVE
and THE LOVER’S TONGUE

“And you thought you knew your own body! A captivating trove of facts and history that will amuse and fascinate.”

JANE FARROW, AUTHOR OF WANTED WORDS

“For over two years Charles Hodgson has wittily dissected the English language on Podictionary. Now Podictionary’s voice comes to print in Carnal Knowledge. This book is a must for anyone who speaks—or has a body.”

DAVE SHEPHERD, PRODUCER AND CO-HOST OF THE PODCAST
THE WORD NERDS