Customer Reviews

Why Do We Say It?: The Stories Behind the Words, Expressions and Cliches We Use

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a great book for trivia or for finding the meanings and origins of every day words. I went through 4 years of undergrad and 2 years of grad school, and never learned the meaning of a bachelor's degree, why they call the school you attended your "alma matter," why do we "open the budget," or where the term pork barrel politics comes from, but the answer to those questions and hundreds of others is in this book.
Want to know where the dandelion got its name from, you can find it in the book. If you have a friend whose first language is not English, this book serves as an excellent reference for understanding some of English' most common phrase.
I believe this book is out of print now, but grab one of the few that are remaining, if not for yourself, but for the wordsmith or trivia buff in your life.

http://gaskin.dyndns.org

With respect to reviewers who found this book 'interesting' and 'informative', this book is not to be trusted as an authoritative source for any given information. I have a collection of several other books whose purpose is to explain word and phrase origins and all of the respectable ones warrant, with admirable frequency, that the origin of such-and-such phrase is unknown or in dispute. Often multiple possible etymologies are given as possibilities.

This book, by contrast, never questions its own authority. It just hands down decrees on phrase origins--some of which I cross-checked against other sources in my collection and found contradictory evidence or reports that the explanation given here had been discredited long ago!

Even more alarmingly, this source lists no sources. There is no author or editor listed. No prefatory or post-script explanation of how this collection came to be. No credits, acknowledgments, or history of printing. Nothing. From the sheer number of entries that had, by the time of this printing (1985) completely disappeared from common speech, one must assume that the text was originally published decades previous, had fallen into public domain, and was reprinted for no other reason than to make a quick buck.

In short, like horoscopes and the National Enquirer, this book is recommended FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY.

I bought this book because I enjoy knowing about the origins of phrases and the price was right. I should have saved my money as this book, while having some interesting information, never seems to have the phrases that I pull it off the shelf to check. I was disappointed.

Most of the words and phrases in this book are interesting and fun to read about, but I found myself thinking of many common phrases that the book just didn't cover, and there were many phrases in the book that I don't think had been used in about a hundred years.

We bought this book as a gift. It was recommended as a companion to Dictionary of Word Origins. When our son opened the two separate gifts and started comparing the books, they were the same book with a different cover. Not a companion book at all.

This is an interesting and easy to use reference to the origin and meaning of common phrases and words that we use every day. It is well written, easily read, deals with the subject with little bits of humor, as well as intellectually. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking a casual, simple explanation of frequently used American idioms.

I remember my uncle giving me this book when I was younger. I was so happy to be able to get another copy from Amazon.com. How often do you ask "why do we say that"? This book covers many of the sayings we use and explains their origin.

I gave this book to my husband because he loves this type of stuff. He gives it the big thumbs up!

Now my daughter knows why I have said some of the things I have. I looked for a long time for a book like this to explain my strange language. Ha ha

I use these books to host trivia games on a virtual world, where there are a lot of international players. This book has the LEAST detail of dates, history, and actual stories behind the words and phrases of ANY of the books of this type I have run into.

I was very disappointed with it.