The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Seemingly designed for those with laser-focused attention or plenty of time on their hands, the Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins provides days of browsing for etymophiles. More than 9,000 entries, nearly a quarter of them new to this edition, cover slang, idiom, and commonly used words with interesting or curious histories. Ranging from a few sentences to half a page, the entries are consistently entertaining and well-researched, though author Robert Hendrickson acknowledges in his preface that "no good tale is omitted merely because it isn't true." (He does note apocrypha when appropriate.) The book pulls few, if any, punches, and nearly everyone will find at least one term or definition offensive; try "Irish beauty" for "a girl with two black eyes," for example. But, for every potentially offensive term, you'll find several hundred delights, such as "veronica" and "cut off your nose to spite your face." Though there's a slight trend toward Americanisms, there's plenty of British, Irish, and other varieties of English represented herein as well. While it is a terrifically useful reference work, it is nearly impossible to keep one's eyes from wandering, more so than with any other work of its kind. Still, a few extra minutes spent in the company of good words and good stories makes the Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins as pleasurable as it is useful. --Rob Lightner --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This is a collection of stories, speculative though entertaining, behind 7500 English words and phrases, from A & P through babushka, Calvinism, Davy Crockett, eggs Benedict, fifty-four forty or fight, German measles, and many more to ZZZ. The stories are fascinating, but the book is marred by many misspellings, particularly in the quotations from German. Still, it will appeal to word buffs and hence should be of interest to public libraries. Scholars will probably continue to rely on the OED and other standard reference works. Catherine von Schon, SUNY at Stony Brook
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 754 pages
• Publisher: Facts on File; Revised edition (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816032661
• ISBN-13: 978-0816032662
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,424,675 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Missing many common phrases, January 12, 2003

By	Paul "tenleft" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins (Facts on File Writer's Library) (Paperback)

I got this book based on some of the reviews I read and there are indeed many good entries. But there are so many more missing entries that are far more common than what it is listed.

Some of the entries I have looked for and NOT found:

Tomfoolery
can't have your cake and eat it too
can't see the forest for the trees
dog and pony show
in the doghouse
with bells on
hard-nosed
slowpoke
wisecrack

Or in the case of "high noon" it has an entry but just says that it is not from the movie, it was first recorded in 14th-century England. No further explaination of how or why. In fact many of the entries that are listed don't have that answer. A large percentage of the entries have some form of uncertainty.
"... is probably dated back to..."
"It is unknown how..."
"... may have it's origins in..."

The defintions of some of the phrases are confusing and don't even touch on origin. All I can do it list an entry on this one (NOTE: this is the complete entry):

beg to advise. The much-used phrase beg to advise, so often read in business letters, may be dated but isn't incorrect by any means. Here "advise" doesn't mean "to give advice" but "to give information," information being one of the meanings of advice. This is seen in another common business expression: "We would appreciate the benefit of your advice."

The index is also poor, it seems only to list the people who said the phrases not the actually phrases.

I recommend the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins it has all of the phrases I couldn't find here. The index is great, it also list the root word of the phrase. So if I want "can't have your cake and eat it too" I could lookup the actual phrase or under "cake" it has a list of the phrases with cake in them.

Keep in mind this book has a lot of words and phrases that one doesn't, and that one has a lot this one doesn't, but that one has more of what you (or at least I) want.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine reference., September 14, 1997

By A Customer

Whether you are a died-in-the-wool word nut, or just a reader intrigued by a colorful expression, this is a work of endless fascination
Over 9,000 words and phrases are covered, from A to Zzz, of slang, proverbs, animal and plant names, nicknames of people, places, and things, historical and political expressions, foreign-language terms, literary allusions, and perhaps best of all, many references to Classical figures and usages of our common Western heritage.
Hendrickson regards this as a work-in-progress, and indeed, there are omissions (smarmy, paddy wagon, all hat and no cattle), and errors. (There certainly was a marijuana variety called Acapulco Gold, "antsy" was in use by the early 1960's, and this reviewer can demonstrate conclusively that armadillos can survive nicely north of Texas.) These are quibbles, however, and do not detract seriously from the merit and sheer usefulness of Hendrickson's work.
Recommended for the permanent bookshelf of lovers of the language and students of the culture.
(The numerical rating above is a default setting within Amazon's format. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WHAT'S IN A NAME? -- THE ANSWER MAY BE HERE, February 9, 2001

By	Loren D. Morrison "amateur_reviewer" (Los Angeles County, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins (Hardcover)

I don't think that a better description of this volume of English Language source material than the one in "Library Journal" can be found. Their reviewers called it witty and insightful and "useful to the general reader, and especially to the historian and student of language." To this I would add that it is also a great source of trivia to trip up one's spouse or drinking buddies.

I can't think of a better way to describe its contents than to give a few examples out of the 7,500 or so entries that I found interesting, or amusing, or both.

Being an American, I had never quite understood the difference between a solicitor and a barrister or exactly how these British attorneys related to their American counterparts. Now I do. A solicitor is a type of legal practitioner who does general legal work while a barrister is one who does trial work.

Now, for American Baseball fans: Do you know why "K" is the symbol for a strikeout? I didn't either, but now I do. Way back in the dark ages of baseball, when a batter struck out, it was said that he had "struck." Letters were used for scoring then just as they are now, but the letter "S" was already being used for sacrifice, so they assigned "K," the last letter of the word struck, to stand for "a player who missed the ball in three swings."

Here's one for our British cousins: "'S - - t' said the Queen." The following has never been proved but it makes a great story. Mark Twain and his good friend, Rudyard Kipling, had a contest to see who could make up the bawdiest and most offensive story, An effort of Kipling's which began with "'S - - t!' said the Queen" was brought to Queen Victoria's attention. She was not amused. This may explain why Kipling was never knighted and never became Poet Laureate.

There are at least two names in this encyclopedia for what I'm being in this review; "Smart Aleck" and "Wiseacre." I'm going to risk "getting your dander up" and be a real smart aleck by telling you that you'll have to find your own copy and look these up for yourselves if you want to know more about them. You'll probably have a lot of fun if you do.