Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
So often we use words or phrases that, while we know what they mean, we don't know how they came into being. The story behind the word is often surprising and always interesting.
People's fascination with language has never been greater as proven by the response to the best-selling Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. This retitled, repackaged, updated and slightly revised favorite will please that growing market. This new edition features a new design, inside and out, and timely updating of the most interesting words and phrases in Why You Say It and What's In a Word.
Featured are such words and phrases as Alibi, Bikini, Capricious, Diddly-squat, Fiasco, Goon, Hip, Loophole, Maudlin, Spam, Taboo, Windfall, and 488 more. The entries are short enough for casual perusal and complete enough to give the whole story of where these words and phrases originated.
Synopsis
Are you a lover of language?
Awaken your passion for words, and savor the sheer deliciousness of the things people say
Casual Lex holds the hidden pleasures found in our usage of words. This fresh edition of the classic Why You Say It will turn you on to the fascinating?and often surprising?stories behind everyday words and phrases. Experience Casual Lex and discover:
- The phrase hell on wheels comes from the early American practice of renting railway flatcars to create rolling casinos and brothels bound for the Wild West.
- Gibberish was the word coined by English villagers to describe the hard-to-understand dialects of certain bands of Gypsies.
- Gymnasium comes from the Greek word gymnos, which means -naked-?Greek athletes trained and competed in the nude.
If your joy of language has been aroused, then many more surprises await you. After all, even the most formal users of our language can benefit from a little Casual Lex.