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ON THE SHELVES

Carnal Knowledge

A lover of words, Westboro’s Charles Hodgson always knew he had a book in him

BY JOE SORNBERGER

It was a christening of sorts. On a Friday night in the upstairs corner of the Ottawa Bagelshop and Deli on Wellington Street, Charles Hodgson held up his brand new baby–a soft-cover book that took him a year to write and almost three more to get published–for the appreciation of real-life friends and family and the virtual ones who took him up on his on-line invitation to attend.

While servers circulated with trays of nibblies, Hodgson scribbled messages inside the well-wishers’ newly purchased copies of the book that his New York publisher hopes will appeal to the public’s emerg­ing interest in language and learning. If it does, it could become the next Eats, Shoots & Leaves, the best­selling rant against poor punctuation by British author Lynne Truss. Or even the next Know It All, A.J. Jacobs’ list of lessons learned while reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica.

And it could. Hodgson’s book sports the risque title Carnal Knowledge and clever cameo art of a nearly naked man’s upper body and a very naked woman’s torso. While it is far from prurient–unless learning about the buccal cavity (your mouth) or the lambda (the middle of the back of your head and symbol for gays and lesbians) gets your genitals (from the Latin root “to beget”) gyrating–it is an entertaining read for anyone interested in how our hundreds of body parts came to be named. Hodgson is not shy: the naughty bits–arse, boobs, and twat–get the same impishly informative etymological treatment as the more mundane elbow, mug, and schnozz. Perhaps even more interesting than the book is how Hodgson got published by St. Martin’s Griffin, one of the Big Apple’s big-seven houses, while also establishing him­self as an internationally popular podcaster. Podictionary, his weekday dose of quirky, smart, and funny information about where the words we use come from, has been downloaded more than three million times since its arrival in June of 2005.

Not bad for a 49-year-old guy who is neither a writer nor a linguist. A McGill-educated electrical engineer, Hodgson has been a designer of outer-space antennae, a senior executive for a high-tech company, a recycling specialist, and a government human-resources consultant, among other things. A decent cook, he makes most of the meals for his two teenage daughters and wife Ella Mar, a VP at Espial Group Inc. and a woman of considerable clout in Ottawa IT circles.

A long-time lover of words, Hodgson decided in the summer of 2004 to get his book published and began sending out five letters a day to literary agents. Before the leaves turned, he had a New York agent. (The book finally hit stores this past summer.) And while some bookstores have been unsure where to display Carnal Knowledge–more than a few Chapters outlets have put it in the sexuality section alongside manuals on how to drive your partner wild–the early notices have been good, with the Boston Globe and Maclean’s saying nice things. Hodgson is hoping enough copies fly off the shelves to allow him to get a second book into play. “I’m having fun. If it works, I’ll be able to go live at the cottage and write. And ski every day.”