Red Herrings and White Elephants

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Red Herrings and White Elephants
Albert Jack, Albert Jack
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Last edited by ImportBot
June 17, 2024 | History

Red Herrings and White Elephants

  • 1 Have read

Mad hatter . . . pie in the sky . . . egg on your face. We use these phrases every day, yet how many of us know what they really mean or where they came from?From bringing home the bacon to leaving no stone unturned, the English language is peppered with hundreds of common idioms borrowed from ancient traditions and civilizations throughout the world. In Red Herrings and White Elephants, Albert Jack has uncovered the amazing and sometimes downright bizarre stories behind many of our most familiar and eccentric modes of expression:If you happen to be a bootlegger, your profession recalls the Wild West outlaws who sold illegal alcohol by concealing slender bottles of whiskey in their boots. If you're on cloud nine, you owe a nod to the American Weather Bureau's classification of clouds, the ninth topping out all others at a mountainous 40,000 feet. If you opt for the hair of the dog the morning after, you're following the advice of medieval English doctors, who recommended rubbing the hair of a dog into the wound left by the animal's bite.A delightful compendium of anecdotes on everything from minding your p's and q's to pulling out all the stops, Red Herrings and White Elephants is an essential handbook for language-lovers of all ages.

Publish Date
Pages
288

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Red Herrings and White Elephants
Red Herrings and White Elephants
2021, Blake Publishing, Limited, John
in English
Cover of: Red Herrings and White Elephants
Red Herrings and White Elephants
Apr 29, 2007, imusti, Blake Publishing
paperback
Cover of: Red herrings and white elephants
Red herrings and white elephants: the origins of the phrases we use everyday
2006, HarperCollinsPublishers
in English - 1st ed.
Cover of: Red Herrings and White Elephants
Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day
November 1, 2005, HarperCollins
Hardcover in English
Cover of: Red Herrings and White Elephants
Red Herrings and White Elephants
2005, HarperCollins
Electronic resource in English
Cover of: Red Herrings and White Elephants
Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day
November 1, 2005, HarperCollins
in English
Cover of: Red Herrings and White Elephants
Red Herrings and White Elephants
2005, HarperCollins Publishers
in English
Cover of: Red Herrings And White Elephants
Red Herrings And White Elephants: The Origins Of The Phrases We Use Every Day
October 31, 2004, Metro Books
Hardcover in English

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Book Details


Classifications

Library of Congress
PE1369

The Physical Object

Format
paperback
Number of pages
288

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL37845423M
ISBN 10
1844544613
ISBN 13
9781844544615

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Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
June 17, 2024 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
December 5, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
April 29, 2022 Created by ImportBot Imported from amazon.com record