Whether it's like "a bump on a log" or "a bat out of hell, " these expressions have been around forever. Dr. Funk explains over 400 droll, colorful, and sometimes pungent expressions of everyday speech. Derived from classical sources, historic events, famous literature, frontier humor, and the frailties of humankind, each of these sayings have an ...
Dr. Funk has taken hundreds of picturesque sayings that we use without thinking in our daily speech and has traced them back through the years to find the original allusions.
This enormous collection of almost one thousand pages contains the four previously published bestselling titles, " A Hog on Ice, Thereby Hangs, A Tale, Heavens to Betsy" ! and "Horsefeathers."
If readers have ever wondered why the candy is called butterscotch; why a certain Southern food is called a hushpuppy; or why log supports in a fireplace are known as andirons, or, sometimes, firedogs; then they'll be fascinated by the origins of the over 600 words discussed in "a book that gets curiouser and curiouser as it goes along" ("San ...
English has hundreds of everyday words that originated or acquired their meanings in unusual ways. Dictionaries don't have the space to tell all the mysteries but Dr. Funk, with humor and insight, tells the strange and intriguing stories of hundreds of words and how they came to be a part of the language.
In this fun collection of over 400 curious expressions and sayings, Dr. Funk explains the meanings that people use in everyday speech without even thinking about it. He has traced the expressions back through the years in an effort to determine their sources, to find out what the original allusions were, and give his expert opinion when facts ...
Binding: Book Softcover
Publisher: Perennial
Date Published: 1985
Description: Very Good. 1985 softcover, book is very tight, pages are tanning, covers show slight shelfwear to edges & curling, no markings, NOT an xlib copy. read more
Description: Good. Edges of pages beggining to yellow with age, 1572 pages, includes 2 pages of black and white pictures of United States Naval Crafts, and a page of color illustrations of reptiles of North America, Volume 2 (M-Z) read more
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The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary
