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Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheep: The Origins of Even More Phrases We Use Every Day (Penguin Pockets)
 
 

Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheep: The Origins of Even More Phrases We Use Every Day (Penguin Pockets) (Paperback)

by Albert Jack (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (5 Oct 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141024259
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141024257
  • Product Dimensions: 15.6 x 11 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 236,066 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #95 in  Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Linguistics > Historical & Comparative Linguistics > Etymology

Product Description

Book Description

100,000 copies sold of Shaggy Dogs worldwide!


Product Description

The English language is crammed with colourful phrases and sayings that we use without thinking every day. It’s only when we’re asked who smart Alec or Holy Moly were, where feeling in the pink or once in a blue moon come from, or even what letting the cat out of the bag really means that we realize that there’s far more to English than we might have thought. Luckily enough, we now have Albert Jack. And rather than resting on his laurels after the enormous success of Red Herrings and White Elephants, he has continued his search around the world, exploring the origins of hundreds more phrases. The fascinating stories he has uncovered come from the rich traditions of the navy, army and law to confidence tricksters and highwaymen, from the practices of ancient civilizations to Music Hall and pubs. Determined to chase each shaggy dog story to the bitter end, his discoveries are even stranger and more memorable this time round. Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheep is a compulsively readable, highly enlightening look at the phrases we use all the time but rarely consider. From the skin of your teeth to the graveyard shift – you’ll never speak (or even think) English in the same way again.

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
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3 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A FANTASTIC FOLLOW-UP, 21 Sep 2005
RED HERRINGS was my favourite book of last year and now (just as my friends were breathing a sigh of relief that I had stopped dragging every conversation round to the weird and wonderful origins of the words we use every day) here comes the sequel and it's even better. Did you know, for instance, that 'buttering someone up' comes from the ancient Hindu custom of throwing globs of clarified butter at the statues of gods; that 'nailing your colours to the mast' came from captains, thinking that they were unlikely to win a sea battle, nailing their flag to the mast so their more cowardly crew couldn't winch it down and surrender; that saying something has 'got legs' comes from wine tasting -- and there's hundreds more stories where those came from... I can't imagine anyone not loving this book.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Book, 31 Jul 2009
By P. Nicholls "paulandchez" (Southampton UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I found this book very interesting althought I thought it would have contained a few more well know sayings. But then again I suppose it is a sequal to a previous book so I guess if you want the full story you need to buy both
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4.0 out of 5 stars Really is the "Bee's Knees", 17 Jul 2009
By Anthony R. Whiteman (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
As always, great products and great service. Amazon is usualy the first place I look for most items.

Tony.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars BLACK DOGS
I bought this book for my mother who thoroughly enjoyed it.

I haven't read it myself as it was a christmas present
Published 9 months ago by Home Librarian

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Quite as good as Red herrings & White Elephants but good
All the most known phases, Red Herrings & White Elephants is the one to choose. However if you want more, then this book contains more but they are more obscure (less well known)... Read more
Published 12 months ago by A very old ZX spectrum gamer

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