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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.
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Previews available in: English
Showing 8 featured editions. View all 8 editions?
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1
Red Herrings and White Elephants
2021, Blake Publishing, Limited, John
in English
1789465621 9781789465624
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2
Red Herrings and White Elephants
Apr 29, 2007, imusti, Blake Publishing
paperback
1844544613 9781844544615
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3
Red herrings and white elephants: the origins of the phrases we use everyday
2006, HarperCollinsPublishers
in English
- 1st ed.
0060843373 9780060843373
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5
Red Herrings and White Elephants
2005, HarperCollins
Electronic resource
in English
0061117749 9780061117749
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6
Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day
November 1, 2005, HarperCollins
Hardcover
in English
0060843373 9780060843373
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7
Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day
November 1, 2005, HarperCollins
in English
0060843373 9780060843373
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8
Red Herrings And White Elephants: The Origins Of The Phrases We Use Every Day
October 31, 2004, Metro Books
Hardcover
in English
1843581299 9781843581291
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- Created April 30, 2008
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August 12, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
April 24, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs. |
April 16, 2010 | Edited by bgimpertBot | Added goodreads ID. |
April 14, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Linked existing covers to the edition. |
April 30, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |