Synopsis:
Strike while the iron's hot and bone up on the origins of your favorite expressions
Cat got your tongue? Well, for Pete's sake, use this collection of colorful expressions to enrich your everyday speech. This book spills the beans on our best-loved euphemisms and most curious sayings, explaining their fascinating origins and the remarkable stories that surround them. It rounds up the usual suspects -- the catch phrases, quotations, and expressions that keep our language flourishing -- and makes them easy to find in a convenient A-to-Z format.
Did you know that . . .
* The expressions all that glitters is not gold and apple of the eye have each been in use for more than a thousand years?
* To bark up the wrong tree comes from the sport of raccoon hunting?
* Embarrassed parents can thank the songwriter Cole Porter for the euphemism the birds and the bees?
Author Bio:
Judy Parkinson is a graduate of Bristol University. She is a producer of documentaries, music videos, and commercials, and won a Clio award for a Greenpeace ad. Parkinson has published four books and has contributed to a show of life drawings at the Salon des Arts, Kensington.
©2010
My Opinion:
I have a love for language, especially sayings and expressions. It is interesting to learn the root of some of those famous quips. That is exactly what this book does, and it does it very well.
I have to admit, there was not one I didn't hear at one point in my life. Though I had gotten some mixed up. I always knew of the Gift Horse, but I thought you kicked a gift horse in the mouth not looked a gift horse in the mouth. If I hadn't read this book I would still be saying it wrong.
I highly recommend this book to all you language enthusiasts out there. This is a real gem!
5/5
~I received a copy from FSB Associates. I was not compensated for my opinion.~
ha! this sounds like a fun one. i love sayings and the meaning behind them. although i usually get the words twisted when i try to same them. ;-D
ReplyDeleteSounds like one I would enjoy and could pull out every time my hubby screws up a common phrase.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds great, one that I would love to read. On another blog just a few days ago there was a discussion about the phrase "raining cats & dogs".
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this one, too, and I would highly recommend it to language enthusiast, as well.
ReplyDelete