Catalog Search Results
Pub. Date
c2004
Language
English
Formats
Description
Word Histories and Mysteries provides a panoramic view of the unique richness of English, uncovering the origins of five hundred everyday words whose surprising and often amusing stories offer insights into the history of humankind. Arranged in convenient alphabetical order, the notes are written in a lively and entertaining style perfect for browsing. The reader can learn how some of the most recent words, such as the computer term wiki, were coined,...
Author
Language
English
Description
This alphabetically arranged reference contains the definitions and Origins of more than 12,500 words and expressions, such as slang words, proverbs, nicknames, and phrases from literature. Also included is a selection of words and phrases that originated in English-speaking countries other than the U.S. and Great Britain. The third edition features approximately 3,500 new entries.
Author
Publisher
Skyhorse Pub
Pub. Date
2010
Language
English
Description
In day-to-day speech, we use words and phrases without a passing thought as to why we use them or where they come from. Max Cryer changes all that by showing how fascinating the English language really is. Did you know that the former host of Today, Jane Pauley, claims to have coined the term "bad hair day," or that a CBS engineer named Charley Douglass invented the name and use of "canned laughter" for television, or that "cold turkey" as a term...
Author
Publisher
Dutton
Pub. Date
c1993
Language
English
Description
Some 600 words and phrases from the world of sports that are now part of the vernacular. Terms from baseball, boxing, football, basketball, hockey, cricket and rugby pepper the English language, whether the subject is war (a maneuver in the Gulf War was called a "hail Mary play") to love (she's on the rebound). Baseball has given us southpaw, go to bat, coming out of left field, playing hardball. Boxers had to go the distance unless they were saved...
Author
Publisher
A & C Black
Pub. Date
c2005
Language
English
Description
The purpose of this book is to uncover the often surprising connections between elements of the English lexicon that have become obscured by centuries of language change - the links in our word-web that join such unlikely partners as, for instance, beef and cow, bacteria and imbecile, and bishop and spy.
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