Reading A Pleasury of Word & Phrase Origins will surely please most wordaholics. Lederer offers a feast of little-known etymologies. For example, he teaches us that the “funny bone” is a punny play on the bone called humerus, which became twisted into something humorous and funny. He also debunks mistaken understandings about the sources of popular phrases such as “It’s raining cats and dogs,” which has a rather prosaic origin in the noise these animals make in fighting, like noisy rain or a thunderstorm.
The book is not presented as a running narrative, instead taking a thematic approach to etymological subjects, such that the reader can pick and choose topics, much like sampling a box of chocolates. He gathers together better and lesser-known words and phrases in separate chapters on body parts, animals, sports, science, and the classics, offering a smorgasbord with verbal delights for every reader.
H. Byron Earhart, author of At Grandma's House: The World War II Homefront
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