- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Thomas Nelson (Jun 12 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1558538119
- ISBN-13: 978-1558538115
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14 x 1.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 295 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,873,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
Here is a fascinating and humorous encyclopedia of more than three hundred words and phrases and how they have taken on new meanings over time. It is an informative reference book for the whole family. Whats in a Word? is a sequel to Garrisons popular Why You Say It. Indexed.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
SOMEONE who connects with a target scores a hit. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
SOMEONE who connects with a target scores a hit. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Alrighty then.,
This review is from: Whats in a Word: Fascinating Stories of More Than 350 Everyday Words and Phrases (Paperback)
My first review.: kinda rusty. Thankfully, the book was worse. Don't get me wrong. Cool idea.; A lot of interesting stuff. But frankly, it is useless. When I say useless I don't mean I didn't learn anything. What I am saying is it does not seem to fulfill its purpose. The fact is, its not a very fascinating read. So no, it's not a recommended page-turner. It is also hardly a comprehensive resource either. So what is it? I don't know.In addition, some of the etymology is weak. Perhaps it's just me. I don't claim to know any better than the next guy the origin of the widow's peak, or any of the other 350 phrases, but it seems to me that the origins have a bit more'substance. Perhaps it wasn't totally worthless, I could after all pass it on as a crappy birthday gift. More then likely it will end up at goodwill to be picked up by another sorry soul. So I won't go as far as to say it's a waste of paper, but I believe I put paper to better use in the bathroom. So a recommendation to Mr. Garrison, do a bit more research. To book sneeze: thanks for the paper.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting,
By Nine-Mile (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Whats in a Word: Fascinating Stories of More Than 350 Everyday Words and Phrases (Paperback)
As this is my first BooksSneeze review I have to admit a predisposition to lean over backward (see chapter on legalese entitled Legal Talk) not to make my report too favorable. At first this seemed to be no big feat, as the first section High Technology and the Computer Age was, in my opinion severely lacking in new information. This section explained such common words as, computer, virus, email, floppies and bookmark. I know, right? Still even this chapter was not completely devoid of interesting tidbits. On the other side of the computer basics chapter it all turned around and I have to say this was a very interesting read.To be fair, many of the phrases explained seem, to my mind, to be out of common speech, but there are many more which you might hear everyday. I was particularly interested in the sports and recreation section; I felt that this one in particular proliferated in phrases that at one time or another, I have wondered about their origins. Others, I thought I had deduced their probable origins, but was way off. I am looking forward to leaving it worth my grandmother sometime this week as she is very interested in looking at it, from what little I've told her about it.
3.0 out of 5 stars
What's in a Word?,
By
This review is from: Whats in a Word: Fascinating Stories of More Than 350 Everyday Words and Phrases (Paperback)
Whats in a word? Webb Garrison uses this quick, easy to read book to help explain the wheres and whys of our English language. Let's face it, English is sometimes hard to understand. We have bucket loads of idioms, coloquial phrases, and words that are used even when most of us don't know where they came from or why we started using them.I love words. I am constantly fascinated with the way our language shifts and changes. I also have a bit of fun teasing my students about not understanding the source of the things they say. This book is a collection of words and phrases you may not know the origins of. I did enjoy learning about most of these words, but sadly, some are out of date. The section of computers/ technology is completely obsolete...anyone under 30 has probably never heard some of these terms, let alone want to know where it came from. This collection of words and phrases would be great, light reading for word geeks and students. It also strikes me as a good read for people who love trivia.
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