What's In a Word?
Fascinating Stories of More Than 350 Everyday Words and Phrases
Published on 15. March 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-59555-300-3 (ISBN)
Description
Once upon a time...
Tying the knot actually involved tying a knot-not saying vows. Meanwhile, a thinking cap wasn't just a cute idea for schoolchildren, but an actual hat worn by scholars in the Middle Ages. Oh, and when you make no bones about something, you should consider yourself lucky you aren't choking on a chicken foot.
What's in a Word? Answers the question it poses, more than three hundred times over. You'll learn which side of the bed is the wrong side, and why the word "nickname" is simply the product of slurred speech. Webb Garrison's etymological journey through the origins of words and phrases, both common and obscure, is sure to fascinate wordsmiths of every stripe.
Tying the knot actually involved tying a knot-not saying vows. Meanwhile, a thinking cap wasn't just a cute idea for schoolchildren, but an actual hat worn by scholars in the Middle Ages. Oh, and when you make no bones about something, you should consider yourself lucky you aren't choking on a chicken foot.
What's in a Word? Answers the question it poses, more than three hundred times over. You'll learn which side of the bed is the wrong side, and why the word "nickname" is simply the product of slurred speech. Webb Garrison's etymological journey through the origins of words and phrases, both common and obscure, is sure to fascinate wordsmiths of every stripe.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Nashville
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 211 mm
Width: 137 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
227 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-59555-300-3 (9781595553003)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Webb Garrison, formerly associate dean of Emory University and president of McKendree College, wrote more than 55 books, including Civil War Curiosities and Civil War Trivia and Fact Book. Before his death in 2000, Garrison lived in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.