“In human language, selling a smoking pot for three gold pieces is called a 'swindle,'" the man said, narrowly escaping a kick in the shins."In Elfish language it's called 'genius,'" the little elf replied cheerfully...”

“The calls of birds and the traces left by wolves to mark off their territories are no less forms of language than the sings of humans. What is distinctively human is not the capacity for language. It is the crystallisation of language in writing.”

“The struggle of literature is in fact a struggle to escape from the confines of language; it stretches out from the utmost limits of what can be said; what stirs literature is the call and attraction of what is not in the dictionary.”

“...The plural of elf is elves! What a language! What a world!”

“The Human was extremely tall. On its head it had yellowish hair coiled like a rope. It had no hair on its face. And yet his grandmother had been very categorical about that. Humans have hair on their faces. Its called a beard. Its one of the many things that distinguish them from elves. The little elf concentrated, trying to remember, then it came to him."You must be a female man," he concluded triumphantly."The word is woman, fool," said the human."Oh, sorry, sorry, woman-fool, I be more careful, I call right name, woman-fool"....”

“Rock star do not jump!" The launch was cutting sharply, its skipper calling out a phrase that bore no relationship to the English language as Amy knew it."Rock star in a hurry!" Nellie replied, one foot on the boat's gunwale.”