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Author: Alexander Games
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1846072352
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 244
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Book Description
From the brash jargon of celebrity magazines to the delicacies and feints of the euphemism, this work uncovers the stories that lie behind some of our best-loved words and expressions. It show you where thugs come from, why 'barmy' once had more to do with your beer than your brain, and how a little bit of 'hanky-panky' could literally work magic.
Author: Alexander Games
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1846072352
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 244
Get Book Here
Book Description
From the brash jargon of celebrity magazines to the delicacies and feints of the euphemism, this work uncovers the stories that lie behind some of our best-loved words and expressions. It show you where thugs come from, why 'barmy' once had more to do with your beer than your brain, and how a little bit of 'hanky-panky' could literally work magic.
Author: Alex Games
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1446415058
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 308
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Book Description
Discover the fascinating stories behind the words and phrases we use every day. English is now the worlds most popular second language, understood by over 700 million people across the globe. Its use is amazingly broad: not only is it the language of Chaucer and Shakespeare, but also of hip-hop, international business and the internet (over 80% of home pages are in English). So where exactly do English words come from? They come from everywhere. English is a vast, rambling conglomeration of words and phrases from a huge variety of times and places, and every word has its own intriguing history. Balderdash & Piffle is a guidebook an entertaining look at what falls out of the chaotic family tree of English words when you uproot it and give it a damn good shake. Shaking the tree is writer, humourist and word-sleuth Alex Games. If youve ever wondered who first used cuppa in print, what language gave us shampoo, when we started saying window, where minging comes from, what Shakespeare had to say about geeks and why berk is really, really rude, youll find it all (and much more) inside. Youll also have the chance to do your own word-sleuthing, through the BBC Wordhunt appeal. Who knows if you have written evidence of a bouncy castle from before 1986, you could even re-write history
Author: Eric Partridge
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134963653
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 1426
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Book Description
The definitive work on the subject, this Dictionary - available again in its eighth edition - gives a full account of slang and unconventional English over four centuries and will entertain and inform all language-lovers.
Author: Eric Partridge
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134929986
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 1315
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Book Description
A catch phrase is a well-known, frequently-used phrase or saying that has `caught on' or become popular over along period of time. It is often witty or philosophical and this Dictionary gathers together over 7,000 such phrases.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 738
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Book Description
Author: Henry Louis Mencken
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Periodicals
Languages : en
Pages : 546
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Book Description
Author: Alan Pinkett
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1326206672
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 262
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Book Description
Alan Pinkett took up writing for the first time just a few years ago. He found he quite liked it and said he'd do some more if you're not careful. The result of that was his first comic novel, Utta Drivel, entered for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. He is now pleased to present its successor, Utta Drivel Too. It describes the laughter-filled lives of friends Wilfric, Boothroyd & Utta Drivel and their surreal comic adventures when their normal existence is periodically deflected by outside events. These include increasingly frequent attacks instigated by a man sworn to be Wilfric's enemy - a one-time Israeli landscape painter by the name of Mori Arty... *** An audaciously satirical work in which the author's wit will make you laugh out loud.
Author: Bill Casselman
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1490772146
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 401
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Book Description
How, why, and whence does a word gain advent into the English vocabulary? That question has hundreds of thousands of vivid, sometimes funny answers. In At the Wording Desk, author Bill Casselman, one of Canada's leading etymologists, shares a collection of some of the more colorful and interesting word origins. With a dose of lively humor, he offers an explanation of a plethora of words and gives the historical Latin and Greek roots and their meaning as spoken and written throughout history. In At the Wording Desk, he: explains that the word "travel" comes from trepalium, a Roman torture device; examines the origin of English words which end in the pejorative suffix -ard such as coward, dullard, lubbard, and sluggard; discuss how canopy first meant mosquito net; defines the meaning of wind-rose, advection, and a host of other interesting words; and tells why carpe diem does not mean "seize the day." From thaumaturgy to clavis, xanthopterin, and more, Casselman offers an extensive look at the history of a variety of rare words.
Author: Jan Freeman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0802719708
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 236
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Book Description
In 1893, Ambrose Bierce declared "I am for preserving the ancient, primitive distinction between right and wrong." In Write it Right, originally published in 1909, Bierce turned this considerable zeal on the English language. The result revealed that the satirical author of The Devil's Dictionary had a keen ear for the vernacular--and that he hated it. This slim volume of his 300 or so reviled words and expressions contains many we use today with no hesitation at all. (Of "electrocution" he says, "To one having even an elementary knowledge of Latin grammar this word is no less than disgusting, and the thing meant by it is felt to be altogether too good for the word's inventor.") Jan Freeman, author of the weekly column "The Word" for the Boston Globe, annotates Bierce's rulings with style, humor, and in-depth research, revealing what Bierce got right--and what he didn't--and giving insight into how the language has changed over the past century. Write it Right, with its incisive wit and insight into the history of American English, is the perfect gift for word curmudgeons everywhere.
Author: Alex Horne
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0753547880
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 338
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Book Description
Alex Horne loves words. He loves them so much, in fact, that he's gone on a mental safari and invented some of his own ... all he needs to do now is get them into the dictionary. But, as Alex discovers, gaining entry into the official lexicon takes more than just a gentle word in the ear of the editor. Evidence is required - Alex needs what the dictionary authorities call a 'corpus' of examples, hard data showing that his new words are in widespread and long-term usage by people other than just him and his mum. So a corpus he resolves to create, no matter what obstacles he might meet on the way. This is the ridiculous story of one man's struggle to break into the dictionary. From covert word-dropping on Countdown to wilfully misinforming young schoolchildren, Alex tries it all in his quest for word-based stardom. Does he succeed? Exactly what is a 'mental safari'? And are you already using one of Alex's words without realising it? You won't regret spending your hard-earned honk on this hugely entertaining book.
