Customer Reviews (1)

useles
this is a workbook and it has been completely filled in. As a workbook It is useless because all of the answers are already there.The prices are only a dollar cheaper or higher than buying it new from the company. ... Read more

Product Description
Did you know the phrase 'naughty but nice' was coined by novelist Salman Rushdie as an advertising slogan to sell cakes? Or that to the Anglo-Saxons a 'gossip' was a godparent? Who was the first to be sidetracked by a 'red herring'? Which writer gave us 'the last straw'?"The Origins of Words and Phrases" will reveal the secrets, scandals and surprises behind the words you use every day. Hear the stories and meet the personalities that have helped shape the English language from William Shakespeare and Lord Byron, to Rudyard Kipling and Salmon Rushdie.Produced in association with Oxford University Press, the world-renowned word experts, this indispensable reference is perfect for anybody who is curious about the way we talk today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

You may use it often;but do you really know what it means and where it came from?

This is an excellent reference to have in your library.It is fairly large at 10 X 8.1 X 1.6 inches,weighing about 3 pounds,and having 384 pages.It is very well constructed,sewn binding ,heavy paper stock and with excellent size and quality printing. It has a lot of color and black highlighting,and illustrations and photographs.In other words ,a first class product that will withstand a lot of use in either a public or personal library.
The book has many short and full page articles that are fact filled and interesting.The book starts off with a short history of the English language and each entry or word has its meaning,similar uses and of course common phrases using the word as well as their origins.There are also many sidebars on people and their connections with the use of language.
Though any book that included all the words and phrases in English would be humongous,(no, it's not included),there are more than 3,ooo that are.
The book is a great thing to just leave around for anyone to pick up and wile away a little time and there is sure to be something of interest for everyone.
Let me just give you an example of one word picked at random to show what you can expect to find;

DUNCE
In the Middle Ages the Scottish theologian and scholar John DunScotus was a profoundly influencial figure.His works were university textbooks,and his followers so numerous that they had a name , Scotis. But from the 16th century the Scotits, views became old-fashioned and they were attacked and rediculed,especially for making unnessaryily fine distinctions. The Scotists acquired a new name: Dunsmen or Dunses. A Dunswas a 'hair-splitter','a dull pedant' and 'a person who is slow at learning'. The last is a sense of DUNCE which survives to this day.
Then there are phrases like "play devil's advocate","get your just deserts","to give someone the hairy eyeball","the real McCoy","in for a penny,in for a pound","sleep like a top", "a thorn in the side","tight as a tick","a little tin god","beyond the veil","double whammy","head over heels" and many that you use;but did you ever wonder where they originated? ... Read more

Product Description
From the Author of the I Didn’t Know That Series

Comes the Latest New Volume Exploring the

Biblical Roots of Everyday Phrases and Expressions



Tracing everyday expressions with roots in holy scripture,



I Didn’t Know That Comes from the Bible covers everything from Land o’ Goshen to Apple of My Eye ... Blind Leading the Blind to Going the Extra Mile, the latest edition in the I Didn’t Know That series, is dedicated to scripture, religion, and all things biblical, with a plethora of insights into commonly cited expressions coming straight from the Bible.



Expressions include:



Old as Methuselah



Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child



Bringing down the House



Nothing But Skin and Bones



Feet of Clay



... Read more

Product Description
A dictionary that aims to explain the etymology of expressions such as "hand over fist", "take a rain-check" and "don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Will not feature on my bookshelf.
Recently re-released with the three words "Word and Phrase" from the title published as one word without capitals - i.e. "wordandphrase" and with a similar lack of capitals for the author's name, I was immediately suspicious of this work - because such blatant misuse of the English language is always unforgivable but is especially so from a product purporting to be a dictionary. Whilst this, earlier version of the same book does not suffer from such ridiculous artistic license, the content is, however, equally as disappointing.

I note that one person reviewing this work (perhaps not on this site) has waxed lyrical by suggesting "now we know the origins of all those words." But we don't!On taking delivery of a copy of this book, a number of my own personal phrases came readily to mind and I was quick to look them up. As with so many others which I found whilst browsing through, I frequently found a wide range of possible sources for each saying. In other words I still don't know! And that's the point.

Whilst the origins of many words and phrases are of considerable interest to writers of all descriptions in addition to ordinary human interest, I have to ask; Do we really need to know the origin of; Denim, for goodness sake, lynch mob, kick-start, read the riot act (and so many more) - or did we know them already?

When first conceived, this book was an opportunity to add some interesting facts, a touch of humour, a degree of "wow I never knew that" and plenty of human interest. After all, by comparison, another author has made a number of books on obituaries into fascinating reading. I this instance, however, we have a product which is padded out with the obvious leaving that which we might seek to learn, deeply hidden - and even when we find what we are seeking, we are frustrated by the lack of a definitive answer.

Regrettably, therefore, I fear this product will never be consulted - not even by those who own a copy and have already browsed the content.

NM

... Read more

Product Description
This is a concise edition of the Australian National Dictionary (OUP 1989) which was hailed as a major asset for readers studying Australian literature that made all earlier dictionaries of Australian English obsolete.The volume contains nearly as many headwords as the original edition, yet provides fewer collations, and indicates the first recorded, and most recent, use of a word.It retains the parent volume's comprehensive coverage of uniquely Australian words and phrases; words for indigenous flora, fauna, and pastimes; and Aboriginal terms. ... Read more

Product Description
In Devious Derivations, word maven Hugh Rawson brings you a marvelously entertaining roundup of 1,000 spurious etymologies, then enlightens you with their genuine counterparts.Some wiseacre (which, by the way, has nothing to do with a land measure) may have told you that a tip is something you give to a waiter "To Insure Promptness," or that James I once knighted a remarkable side of beef, saying "Arise, Sir Loin," but like hundreds of oft-repeated accounts of word origins, they're just too good to be true.People, it seems, are etymologizing creatures, and if a certain lexical lineage is unclear, they are sure to invent one.If you hear that pumpernickel was named by Napoleon Bonaparte, who, upon being served the dark German bread, derided it as "pain pour Nicol" (bread for his horse, Nicol), you can take it with a grain of salt (which since 1647 has been making questionable tales, like questionable meat, more palatable).The same goes for condom (there is no evidence of a Doctor or Colonel Condom ever existing), crap (only coincidentally related to the toilet innovator Thomas Crapper), SOS (not from "Save Our Ship," let alone "Save Our Souls"), and Baby Ruth (often credited erroneously to the legendary baseball player).So when you're trying like the dickens (which has nothing to do with the novelist) to figure out what BVD stands for (hint:it's not Boy's Ventilated Drawers), don't be an ignoramus (which does not come from the word ignorant)--check out Devious Derivations.In the end, knowing the origins of words and phrases adds new meaning to them and enables the person who is conscious of all their nuances to employ them more artfully. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Fun!
A great book for anyone who "thinks" they know where some verypopular words and phrases come from. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Why do we say a person is the "spitting image" of someone else, or "take a rain check"? These questions are rarely answered by conventional dictionaries, but this book takes a wide-ranging approach to problems of etymology, challenging a few long-held theories on the way. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Will not feature on my bookshelf.
Recently re-released with the three words "Word and Phrase" from the title published as one word without capitals - i.e. "wordandphrase" and with a similar lack of capitals for the author's name, I was immediately suspicious of this work - because such blatant misuse of the English language is always unforgivable but is especially so from a product purporting to be a dictionary. Whilst this, earlier version of the same book does not suffer from such ridiculous artistic license, the content is, however, equally as disappointing.

I note that one person reviewing this work (perhaps not on this site) has waxed lyrical by suggesting "now we know the origins of all those words." But we don't!On taking delivery of a copy of this book, a number of my own personal phrases came readily to mind and I was quick to look them up. As with so many others which I found whilst browsing through, I frequently found a wide range of possible sources for each saying. In other words I still don't know! And that's the point.

Whilst the origins of many words and phrases are of considerable interest to writers of all descriptions in addition to ordinary human interest, I have to ask; Do we really need to know the origin of; Denim, for goodness sake, lynch mob, kick-start, read the riot act (and so many more) - or did we know them already?

When first conceived, this book was an opportunity to add some interesting facts, a touch of humour, a degree of "wow I never knew that" and plenty of human interest. After all, by comparison, another author has made a number of books on obituaries into fascinating reading. I this instance, however, we have a product which is padded out with the obvious leaving that which we might seek to learn, deeply hidden - and even when we find what we are seeking, we are frustrated by the lack of a definitive answer.

Regrettably, therefore, I fear this product will never be consulted - not even by those who own a copy and have already browsed the content.

NM

... Read more

Product Description
Susan Butler, editor of "The Macquarie Dictionary", describes the origins and usage of words ranging from "mulga" to "Anzac", from "sool" to "kangaroo". ... Read more

Product Description
A title in the ARTFUL WORDSMITH series, which looks at the origins of 1200 words, giving any folk etymologies and fictional origins, as well as false origins. ... Read more

Product Description
A dictionary of 700 entries written in a popular, non-technical style, explaining the origin and background of etymologically-interesting words, including some eponyms, toponyms, phrases, quotations and misquotations from the Bible and Shakespeare. ... Read more

Product Description
Publisher: New York : HoltPublication date: 1889Subjects: Greek language -- CompositionNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
THIS 52 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Book of the Beginnings Part 1, by Gerald Massey. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 0766126528. ... Read more