Dog Days and Dandelions: A Lively Guide to the Animal Meanings Behind Everyday Words [Hardcover]

Martha Barnette (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312280726 | ISBN-13: 978-0312280727 | Publication Date: February 12, 2003 | Edition: 1st

From apian (like a bee) to zodiac (little-animals circle), a word book that spots the animal origins of words and names

There are mice in your muscles, and blackbirds in your merlot. Behind adulation is a dog's wagging tail. Peculiar houses a herd of cattle. Grubby is crawling with bugs. Wordhound Martha Barnette collects more than 300 common (and a few not-so-common) words that have surprising animal roots. Tracing word origins back to ancient Greek and Latin as well as to European roots and American slang, the entries offer a guided tour through literature, science, folklore, politics, and more--with a wilderness of animal meanings at every turn.

For fledgling word sleuths as well as those who fawn over etymologies, this is a delightful smorgasbord for writers, students, and word lovers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Animals lurk everywhere in our language," declares Barnette, the author of two previous books for word lovers, A Garden of Words and Ladyfingers and Nun’s Tummies. From origins that are immediately apparent (grubby refers to grubs, and lousy to lice), to others that might take a little thought (burrito means little donkey, vermicelli translates as little worms), all the way to influences only an etymologist would know (bombastic comes from the Old French bombace, meaning soft padding, which in turn came from bómbyx, the ancient Greek word for silkworm), Barnette offers a sprightly compendium of the animal kingdom’s impact on the king’s English. "There’s a little snake coiled inside the word rankle," "a ‘porker’ in porcelain" and "a pair of oxen trudging round and round, grinding grain for all eternity" in halo, she writes, and, unsurprisingly, "an oversize insect skittering about inside the word lobster." Arranged alphabetically, the 300-plus entries make for good browsing, and readers with a penchant for odd and underused words, such as myrmidon (an unprincipled lackey) and musteline (resembling a weasel) will find them aplenty here.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

According to Barnette, it's a jungle out there in the dog-eat-dog world of etymology. In this zoological tour of the beastly backgrounds behind common phrases such as swan song and rare words such as snollygoster, Barnette sheds new light on both everyday and esoteric language. Whether their roots can be traced back as far as ancient Greece or only to contemporary American slang, there's a bevy of words that owe their origin to our four-footed and fine-feathered friends. Some make perfect sense, such as lousy, an infestation of lice that is, of course, a perfectly lousy thing to endure. Others are more obscure, such as comedy, which harkens back to the Roman word for the distinctly unamusing maggot. Still other examples will forever alter the way one looks at things. Diners might be far less willing to slather butter on their toast if it were instead referred to in its original Greek as cow cheese. Barnette's etymological sleuthing, itself a word of animal derivation, is as educational as it is engrossing. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (February 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312280726
• ISBN-13: 978-0312280727
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #729,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm co-host, along with bestselling language expert Richard Lederer, of the word-loving public radio program, "A Way with Words," produced by KPBS radio and distributed by NPR via podcast.

Our show's similar to NPR's "Car Talk" -- but our topic is language. We discuss everything from word origins to weird slang phrases, puns to punctuation, diction to dictionaries.

My books about language and word origins carry on that spirit of fun and love of lifelong learning. So does my blog: www.marthabarnette.blogspot.com

We at "A Way with Words" hope that, if nothing else, our show will help you to do one thing:

EMBRACE YOUR INNER NERD!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Barnette makes it easy, May 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Dog Days and Dandelions: A Lively Guide to the Animal Meanings Behind Everyday Words (Hardcover)

I've looked through word origin books that were dry and hard to read, but Dog Days and Dandelions is a delight. There are stories to be told about where words come from; this author knows how to choose them and how to tell them.

I visited amazon to find more of her books, but they are out of print. I hope either some of you readers will sell your used ones, or that more will be written or printed soon!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars making words fun, February 19, 2003

By 

Cupcakes "chocobits" (Lexington, KY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dog Days and Dandelions: A Lively Guide to the Animal Meanings Behind Everyday Words (Hardcover)

I had no idea there were blackbirds in my merlot nor horses in all my jaded, hackneyed, tacky everyday observations. What a treat of a book! Of course, not that I was surprised...all Barnette's prior offerings-- the charming Ladyfingers and Nun's Tummies and A Garden of Words--are a must-have for writers and readers alike. Anyone who loves words will adore this treasure of a book. I've already learned more than I did in college! And I've just ordered it for three of my friends. Highly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Language Fun!, February 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Dog Days and Dandelions: A Lively Guide to the Animal Meanings Behind Everyday Words (Hardcover)

A friend gave me this book, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. The author uses linguistic detective work to show us the tracks of all sorts of animal stories hidden inside familiar English words (like the little dog that inspired the word "feisty" and the caterpillar in "chenille"). She also makes it easy to learn some surprising new words. My favorite so far is "chatoyant," which means "shining like a cats' eyes"!

It is clear the author loves animals and also loves words. Her delight in both of them is infectious. Like everybody's favorite teacher, she clearly knows a lot about her subject, and communicates it with enthusiasm, plus a great sense of humor. I would recommend this book to any word lover, as well as to anyone else who's naturally curious about animals and the world around us.