The Metaphor Zoo
Why the English Language Loves Animals
Will be published approx. on 5. November 2026
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-1-83643-243-2 (ISBN)
Description
Ever wondered why it rains cats and dogs? Why some are early birds and others night owls? Or why on earth a cat would wear pyjamas?
English is home to a veritable menagerie of animal metaphors, similes, sayings, adages proverbs, idioms and rhymes, ranging from the commonsense to the utterly absurd. From curious cats to mindless sheeple, lexicographer Jeremy Butterfield takes a species-by-species safari through the English language in pursuit of its most unusual animal idioms.
Learn how coots - perfectly nice little birds - become synonymous with madness, baldness and idiocy. Figure out if bees actually have knees, and if so, why they're so great. And discover why pigs 'oink' in English, 'khankhanah' in Arabic, 'heng heng' in Mandarin - but cats always mew. Filled to the brim with fascinating facts and trivia, The Metaphor Zoo is the perfect gift for language lovers, amateur linguists and grammar nerds alike.
English is home to a veritable menagerie of animal metaphors, similes, sayings, adages proverbs, idioms and rhymes, ranging from the commonsense to the utterly absurd. From curious cats to mindless sheeple, lexicographer Jeremy Butterfield takes a species-by-species safari through the English language in pursuit of its most unusual animal idioms.
Learn how coots - perfectly nice little birds - become synonymous with madness, baldness and idiocy. Figure out if bees actually have knees, and if so, why they're so great. And discover why pigs 'oink' in English, 'khankhanah' in Arabic, 'heng heng' in Mandarin - but cats always mew. Filled to the brim with fascinating facts and trivia, The Metaphor Zoo is the perfect gift for language lovers, amateur linguists and grammar nerds alike.
Reviews / Votes
'Jeremy Butterfield takes us on a most enjoyable mosey - with many diverting diversions - through the beast-infested thickets of the English lexicon.' -Peter Gilliver, author of The Making of the Oxford English DictionaryMore details
Person
Jeremy Butterfield is a lexicographer and writer. For many years he worked in senior editorial positions in Collins English and Bilingual Dictionaries and edited the fourth edition of Fowler's Modern English Usage. He is also the author of Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare and the Oxford A-Z of English Usage, and has written about language and grammar for the Guardian. He lives in York.