The Word Detective: Solving the Mysteries Behind Those Pesky Words and Phrases [Paperback]

Evan Morris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2001

The man to ask is the Word Detective, aka Evan Morris, who is in and open for business. This collection of Morris's language columns, which appear in newspapers worldwide and on his award-winning Web site, cracks the case on hundreds of perplexing words and phrases.

Fielding questions from his loyal readers with his distinctive brand of humor and unique approach to language, Morris hears from Sean via the Internet, who wants to know if nerd made its first appearance on Happy Days. (Morris, however, traces it back further-to Theodor Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss.) Ryan M. isn't quite sure if being caught red-handed is a reference to dye bombs put in bags of money that detonate when stolen. (The word Detective explains that it came into use during the 15th century, when the blood on the murderer's hands gave him away.) Laura V. is under the impression that a potboiler is a book that can be read while waiting for a pot to boil. (Morris relieves her of this misassumption by explaining that a potboiler is written by a writer in desperate need of something to boil in a pot.)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Who needs Sherlock Holmes when you've got a word detective? Evan Morris, whose Web site and syndicated column solve more mysteries than even Scotland Yard could manage, has assembled a book of entertaining questions and answers that will amuse, educate, and resolve arguments all at once. From "amok" to "zarf", the definitions and origins of words are explained with a delightful combination of wit and research that will leave curious readers delighted.

Each entry begins with the original question asked of Morris, complete with the writer's misspellings and misinformation, and a few of these may result in cringes from the serious wordsmiths out there. One query incorrectly remembers the metaphor "hair of the dog that bit you" as "Something like bite the dog's tail or the dog that bit you last night," and Morris makes plenty of entertaining suggestions regarding these incorrect versions before finally explaining that the phrase have been around since about 1546, and specifically refers to a hangover remedy. The author is in especially fine form while explaining the phrase "passing the bar"--who knew that it dates back to a requirement that lawyers wrestle a grizzly "bar" before entering into practice? The correct explanation follows Morris's whimsical tale, but 16th-century England just doesn't have quite the same entertainment value. Several special sections cover larger topics, such as food- and animal-based phrases (easy as pie, dog days), onomatopoeia, euphemisms, diner slang, and Yiddish expressions. While not as detailed as the alphabetical entries, words like "wreck", "mensch," and "throb" are given satisfying, if short, descriptions. --Jill Lightner --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

...carefully researched, informative, and charmingly written....Word-fanciers of all ages will cherish this remarkably reader-friendly volume. -- Kliatt, January 2002

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Plume (October 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452282640
• ISBN-13: 978-0452282643
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,861,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new meaning for "Infotainment", November 19, 2000

By 

Dennis West (williams bay, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Word Detective: Solving the Mysteries Behind Those Pesky Words and Phrases (Hardcover)

It's not often we find a "reference" book that delivers on the promise of its title and entertains at the same time. "The Word Detective" provides information on word and phrase origins and debunks myths about them. "Posh," for instance, isn't an acronym for "port out, starboard home." "Sabotage" wasn't coined as a result of French workers tossing their wooden shoes (sabots) into machinery. And "Welsh Rarebit" is a corruption of "Welsh Rabbit," not the other way around.

Morris's writing style combines scholarship with a wonderful sense of humor. Asked what the pundits think about a word, he replies, "I don't know that the pundits think. I had to get rid of them last week. Just the cost of pundit chow was bankrupting me, and their constant chattering was unbearable." Asked about the word "jackpot," Morris writes, "The first jackpot? Why, that would be the ill-fated Great Babylonian Pottery Lottery of 420 B.C., in which the first prize was six hundred pickled sheep packed into an enormous urn ninety Crullers (about seventy feet) tall. I understand they're still trying to catch up with the winner."

This isn't to say that the readers don't get actual, accurate answers. Morris, whose parents were the famous word experts, authors and editors William and Mary Morris, may know as much or more about word origins as anyone writing today... It's a delight from beginning to end.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EVEN BETTER THAN THE WEB SITE!, October 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Word Detective: Solving the Mysteries Behind Those Pesky Words and Phrases (Hardcover)

I had been a big fan of Evan Morris's Word Detective web site and was thrilled to see that this book had come out. It's laugh-out-loud funny, AND you also get all your questions answered! (Like where "posh" came from--no, it DOESN'T mean "port out, starboard home." Or like "sideburns.") Really different than all those dull-as-dishwater reference books out there. I was also intrigued by the long (and hilarious) introduction, "Sticky Dimes," about how Evan Morris got started in the family business. (His father and mother were editors and dictionary-writers.)

Plus the book itself is SO cute, inside and out. It's a chunky little detective office.

O.K., I'm done now -- I HIGHLY recommend this book, either for yourself or as a gift. (But you'll probably want to keep it once you see it.)

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elementary, my dear readers., June 18, 2004

By 

M. E. Volmar - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Word Detective: Solving the Mysteries Behind Those Pesky Words and Phrases (Hardcover)

This educational, entertaining and delightful volume provides well-researched answers to interesting questions about the meaning, origin and usage of some of today's most perplexing words and phrases.
Compiled from material taken from the author's newspaper and Internet column by the same name, The Word Detective is an informative, witty, charming and fun reference for word lovers, trivia enthusiasts and armchair etymologists alike.
Organized alphabetically, irreverently written and often whimsically illustrated, each entry untangles the histories and debunks the myths behind words like jeep, sabotage, busboy and gringo, and phrases like "cup of joe," "armed to the teeth" and "pickled as an owl". You will be thoroughly informed, at the same time that you are smiling, chuckling or laughing with each explanation.
Special sections that explore related groups of words and phrases like euphemisms, metaphors, eponyms and figures of speech, among others, are also included.
A bibliography and a list of web sites devoted to words and language, especially useful to those interested in pursuing the subject further, are also added at the back of the book.
Overall, this book combines the perfect amount of humor and instruction to insure the reader a pleasurable and rewarding experience.
--Reviewed by M. E. Volmar