|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
Review
"Detailing the whole fascinating history behind words and phrases that, for one reason or another, have tall tales attached to them.... Buy it for: Armchair academics/cocktail party know-it-alls."--Philadelphia Weekly
"Think "hot dog" was coined by a New York baseball vendor, or that a certain vulgarity originated as an acronym? Then you need to read this book, which shows that some of the best etymological stories are just tall tales."--Chicago Tribune (10 Best Books About Language, 2004)
"Amateur, no make that professional logophile and word origins website editor Wilton corrects the mistakes many of us make in what we believe are the origins of words and phrases. He begins by examining the origins of these fallacies, and why we persist in perpetuating them. After relieving us of any misconceptions about the existence of Dr. Condom, and sorting out that pesky "crap" question, Wilton concludes with ways to find, and enjoy the true origins of words."--Reference and Research Book News
"This fascinating collection of myths about word origins should be a joy to read."--Don McCreary, Department of English, University of Georgia. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
"Think "hot dog" was coined by a New York baseball vendor, or that a certain vulgarity originated as an acronym? Then you need to read this book, which shows that some of the best etymological stories are just tall tales."--Chicago Tribune (10 Best Books About Language, 2004)
"Amateur, no make that professional logophile and word origins website editor Wilton corrects the mistakes many of us make in what we believe are the origins of words and phrases. He begins by examining the origins of these fallacies, and why we persist in perpetuating them. After relieving us of any misconceptions about the existence of Dr. Condom, and sorting out that pesky "crap" question, Wilton concludes with ways to find, and enjoy the true origins of words."--Reference and Research Book News
"This fascinating collection of myths about word origins should be a joy to read."--Don McCreary, Department of English, University of Georgia. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
Do you believe that Ring Around the Rosie refers to the Black Death? Or that Eskimos have 50 (or 500) words for "snow"? Or that "Posh" is an acronym for "Port Out, Starboard Home"? If so, you badly need this book. In Word Myths, David Wilton debunks some of the most spectacularly wrong word histories in common usage, giving us the real stories behind many linguistic urban legends. Readers will discover the true history behind such popular words and expressions such as "rule of thumb," "the whole nine yards," "hot dog," "raining cats and dogs," "chew the fat," "AWOL," "under the weather," "in like Flynn," "Dixie," "son of a gun," "tinker's damn," and many more. We learn that SOS was not originally an acronym for "Save Our Ship" or "Save Our Souls," but was chosen because the morse code signal (3 dots, 3 dashes, 3 dots) was easy to send and recognize. Also, "let the cat out of the bag" does not refer to the whip (the "cat") used to punish sailors aboard ship. The term "upset" (to defeat unexpectedly) does not date from the horse race when the heavily favored Man O' War was beaten by a nag named Upset (Upset was the only horse ever to defeat Man O' War, but the word predates the race by half a century). And Thomas Crapper did not invent the flush toilet, nor do the words "crap" or "crapper" derive from his name. As Wilton quashes these word myths, he offers us the best of both worlds: not only do we learn the many wrong stories behind these words, we also learn why and how they were created--and what the real story is. "Think 'hot dog' was coined by a New York baseball vendor, or that a certain vulgarity originated as an acronym? Then you need to read this book, which shows that some of the best etymological stories are just tall tales." --Chicago Tribune (10 Best Books About Language, 2004) "Most everything you know about word and phrase origins is likely to be wrong, and David Wilton proves it with a light touch and a wealth of fascinatingcase histories. Absolutely everyone with an interest in language will love this book." --J.E. Lighter, Editor, Historical Dictionary of American Slang
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
44 of 46 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
What's in a metro myth?, Dec 26 2004
By Gary C. Marfin - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends (Hardcover)
This book deserves a wide reading. Its central lesson, as that of the more popular series on urban legends, is this: Don't believe everything you hear (or see) regarding the origins of words and phrases. I learned from this book that there were (a) false origins; things I thought I knew but didn't; (b) words whose origin I correctly understood, but about which others are mistaken, and (c) words whose origins I didn't know (and was thus unaware that others held false opinions about). Both humbling and instructive is category (a). Included here for me is "Ring around the Rosie," which I have read in countless reputable texts started its career as a sort of macabre humor for children singing and dancing their way through Europe's 14th century plague. And, equally unsettling, was the realization that the Chevy "NOVA" was not a botched marketing campaign by GM in Mexico, and that a guy named Crapper did not in fact invent the toilets we daily flush. At least, I got "google" right. This is a well-written, easily digested romp through the history of words misunderstood by many. It underscores the continuing importance of scepticism, perhaps especially in this, the information age.
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some surprising revelations about word histories, Oct 23 2005
By Frank Chen - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends (Hardcover)
Word Myths, as its title suggests, is in the debunking business. Mr. Wilton populates this book with popular explanations for the origin of common words and phrases which turn out to be wrong.For example, he argues that "SOS" never stood for anything like Save Our Ship or Save Our Souls -- "SOS", as it turns out, was just easy to tap out in Morse Code.
Another example: he demonstrates that Coca Cola never translated the name for their trademark drink as "bite the wax tadpole" in China.
I learned quite a few etymologies reading through this book. It's carefully researched and thoughtfully organized.
If I have one criticism of the book, it's that some of the explanations drag on for much longer than they need to. Where Mr. Wilton faced a decision between academic completeness and a brief witticism, he too often decided on the former. This is a book that begs to be written playfully (the cartoons which open each chapter set the visual tone perfectly), but for some reason just isn't.
Still, the book is worth a quick read to discover that the things you thought you knew turn out to be, as the author calls them, linguistic urban legends.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
I was surpirsed how many I knew - incorrectly, May 2 2005
By Harold McFarland - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends (Hardcover)
We have all heard stories of where different words and phrases originated. Some are quite fascinating and most are at least somewhat logical. The problem is that many of these legends are simply wrong. With a long list of word myths that include "dirt poor", "devil to pay", "under the weather", "real McCoy", "squaw", and "kangaroo" it is a fascinating read that not only debunks the traditional myths but also, where possible, supplies the correct origin of the word or phrase. Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends is hard to put down once you get started and thoroughly entertaining from beginning to end - highly recommended.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Mythology
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > Linguistics
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Reference
- Books > Nonfiction > Education > Reference > Words & Language > Etymology
- Books > Nonfiction > Education > Reference > Words & Language > Linguistics
- Books > Nonfiction > Education > Reference > Words & Language > Vocabulary, Slang, & Word Lists
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Linguistics > Applied
- Books > Reference > Words & Language > Etymology
- Books > Reference > Words & Language > Linguistics
- Books > Reference > Words & Language > Vocabulary, Slang, & Word Lists
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
