Customer Reviews

Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins

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Ever browse the Oxford English Dictionary just for fun, especially for the parenthetical information about the origins of words? Ever wish those entries were longer? Well, then you'll love this book. Those of who love language and words will enjoy finding out the sources of "kangaroo" and "cop," "jury rigged" and "the real McCoy"... Often the real roots of phrases and words remain unknown, but debunking the myths is just as much fun as finding the answer... A good read!

In our electronic age, especially with the Internet, information can be disseminated more rapidly and more widely than ever before. So can misinformation. People hear a plausible and entertaining story about a word's origin and share it with others -- without bothering to check its validity. In _Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins_ Michael Quinion, contributor to the _Oxford English Dictionary_ and creator of the World Wide Words website and newsletter, corrects many common misconceptions.

I love words--their meaning and their etymologies--so this is a great book for those of us who like to read and research. I especially enjoy how Michael Quinion starts off with the myth of the origin of a word then goes on to tell you the reality.

Bought this as a Christmas present for my son, who loves word origins and wordplay type books. Very nice condition at a closeout price. Pleased with it.

The author gives his expert explanation of some common idioms and unusual words of the English shared by Britain and America. The book is more a fun but light exercise in reading for dedicated word lovers than a more comprehensive and scholarly effort.

One nice touch at the end is a "Webliography", which gives several language resources available on the World Wide Web. I do not know if Mr. Quinion coined the word but it serves a good descriptive purpose. Future books of all sorts should provide such a separate listing of additional Web resources for the benefit of their readers.

As usual, Michael Quinion's meticulous scholarship and excellent writing make a fascinating and educational read.

The text of this book is informative and entertaining, but the physical production of this book is not good. It looks as though they reduced the size of perhaps an original hardback book, including the type size, making for a sleazy cheap-feeling paperback. The font is a bit too small and light for comfortable reading, and the quality of the paper seems really poor with a yellow cast. Ordinarily I like paperbacks because they are lightweight and easy to hold. But I find this book to be physically annoying to read.

This book is an interesting read, but not one that can lead to or even help toward to mastery of the subject (etymology). It does discuss method to some degree, but could benefit from more depth of coverage.