Also included are chapters on word-level phenomena, such as sentence palindromes, and wordplay involving arithmetic and geometric progressions.

[4][5][6][7] The book is notable for having introduced and popularized the use of the word logology to mean recreational linguistics, or the study and practice of wordplay.

[5][6][9] The book's publicity led to Borgmann being contracted by industrial design firm Loewy & Snaith to invent brand names for its client Standard Oil, and to Greenwood Periodicals selecting him to establish and edit their logology journal, Word Ways.

[5][10] Language on Vacation was published in 1965 by Charles Scribner's Sons; recreational mathematician Joseph Madachy served as the author's literary agent.

[7][12] The manuscript Borgmann originally submitted contained two additional chapters, on word play involving phonetics and semantics, which were rejected by the publisher.