What's in a Word?: Fascinating Stories of More Than 350 Everyday Words and Phrases

by Webb Garrison

Overview

A compendium containing the origins and history of some of the most common words and phrases in the English language.

Once upon a time . . .

Tying the knot actually involved tying a knot—not saying vows. Meanwhile, a thinking cap wasn’t just a cute idea for schoolchildren, but an actual hat worn by scholars in the Middle Ages. Oh, and when you make no bones about something, you should consider yourself lucky you aren’t choking on a chicken foot.

What’s in a Word? answers the question it poses, more than three hundred times over. You’ll learn which side of the bed is the wrong side, and why the word “nickname” is simply the product of slurred speech. Webb Garrison’s etymological journey through the origins of words and phrases, both common and obscure, is sure to fascinate wordsmiths of every stripe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781418530587
Publisher:	HarperCollins Christian Publishing
Publication date:	03/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	263
Sales rank:	540,609
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Webb Garrison, formerly associate dean of Emory University and president of McKendree College,wrote more than 55 books, including Civil War Curiosities and Civil War Triviaand Fact Book. Before his deathin 2000, Garrison lived in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.