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Quinion Michael
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Port It, Starboard Home
Автор: Quinion Michael Жанр: Penguin Group Год: 2005 Страниц: 304 Дата загрузки: 16 марта 20082008-02-13
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Can it really be true that 'golf' stands for 'Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden'? Or that 'rule of thumb' comes from an archaic legal principle that a man may chastise his wife, but only with a rod no thicker than his thumb? These and hundreds of other stories are commonly told and retold whenever people meet. They grow up in part because expressions are often genuinely mysterious. Why, for example, are satisfying meals 'square' rather than any other shape? And how did anyone ever come up with the idea that if you're competent at something you can 'cut the mustard'? Michael Quinion here retells many of the more bizarre tales, and explains their real origins where they're known. This is a fascinating treasure-trove of fiction and fact for anyone interested in language.
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Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins
Автор: Quinion Michael Жанр: Daedalus Books Год: 2004 Страниц: 280 Дата загрузки: 11 октрября 20092009-08-11
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The cat's pajamas, the bee's knees, and the whole nine yards rolled into one, this true feast for wordlovers delightfully skewers commonly accepted word origin myths and etymological folk tales. The real story of a world or phrase's origin and evolution is often much stranger — and much more humorous — than the commonly accepted one; the many entries will certainly leave you happy as a clam. Happy as a clam? Really — what's so happy about being a clam? The saying makes much more sense when it's paired with its missing second half: at high water. Now a clam at high water is a safe clam, and thus a happy clam. The confusion surrounding the word kangaroo caused so much trouble that the Aborigines thought this English word meant any edible animal; they asked whether the cattle being unloaded from ships were kangaroos. From the bawdy to the sublime, Quinion's explanations and delightful asides truly prove that the proof is in the pudding.
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