Recensori in anteprima

In a language where Atlantic salmon actually belong to the trout family and Boston Cream Pie is a cake, Barbara Ann Kipfer reveals the bizarre and unusual origins of the most common phrases. This informative barrel of laughs (connotes beer barrels; conducive to merriment) compiles the more amusing tidbits of lexicographical knowledge that are perfect for filling conversational gaps during literary events, art gallery openings, painting parties and dinners with the in-laws. Her new book, Phraselogy: Thousands of Bizarre Origins, Unexpected Connections, and Fascinating Facts About English’s Best Expressions, is the definitive compendium of more than 7,000 facts about popular phrases including: • Naked Truth-Alludes to a fable in which Truth and Falsehood went bathing; Falsehood then dressed in Truth’s clothes, and Truth, refusing to take another’s clothes, went naked • Hair Of The Dog-Based on the ancient folk treatment for a dog bite that involved putting a burnt hair of the dog on the wound • Basket Case-Originally a slang term denoting a soldier who had lost all four limbs, thus unable to move independently • Computer “Bug”- Coined by a person whose computer was shorted out by a moth Straight from the horse’s mouth (from the method of telling a horse’s age by studying his teeth), Barbara Ann Kipfer is a career linguist and lexicographer (lex•i•cog•ra•pher noun- a writer, editor or compiler of a dictionary). She is Managing Editor/Chief Lexicographer for Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com. She has also worked for such companies as Answers.com, Ask Jeeves, idealab, Mindmaker, General Electric Research, IBM Research, Wang, Bellcore (Telcordia), Cymfony, Textwise, and Knowledge Adventure.