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31
Beer Goggles and Bung Holes (Phraseology, Halloween edition)
2008 at 2pm Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m featuring fun facts from Barbara Ann Kipfer’s Phraseology one letter of the alphabet at a time, for the next several weeks. This book is packed with interesting facts, and it was really hard to narrow down my favorites for the Bs. Let’s start with a few fun ones.
Sally the Camel may have had five humps (or am I the only one who remembers that silly children’s song?), but bactrian camels have 2. You can remember this by thinking of how a B also has two humps.
I’ll give bonus points to anyone who can figure out what they’re doing.
As many of you know, I grew up in Kansas (see post below), so I’m not altogether unfamiliar with prairie dogs. I did not, however, know that they’re also referred to as barking squirrels. I have no idea why, by the way.
If you go out partying tonight, beware of getting beer goggles, which is the condition of excess beer making people look more attractive than they are.
And if you wake up hung over tomorrow, you might not want to order sausages with breakfast—they’re also referred to as bags of mystery. I’d rather not know the details.
Ever looked into your lover’s eyes and seen a reflection of yourself in their pupils? That’s called babies-in-the-eyes. Creepy, huh?
And now a few random facts:
- the term bad egg for someone who turns out to be a rotten person dates back to the mid-1800s.
- a baker’s dozen (13 loaves), with the extra loaf called the in bread or vantage loaf, was created to avoid a fine if the original 12 were not the expected weight.
- in a flushing toilet, the ball part inside the tank is called the ball cock. (I had to throw in one dirty one for Halloween.)
- bite the dust is a literal translation of a line from Homer’s Iliad.
- the term booby prize comes from the German bubenpries, “boy’s prize.” (OK, two dirty ones.)
- a bull market (which we are definitely not in now) has rising stock prices, which encourage buying.
And finally, one last semi-dirty fact for Halloween (and for the amusement of our inner ten-year-old boys):
The bung hole is the aperture through which beer enters a cask. Not quite as exciting as you thought, huh?
Happy Halloween, word nerds!
There's no place like home…
2008 at 9am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
My store has an annual tradition of Halloween Storytime that culminates with a costume parade through the store and trick-or-treating in the various departments. I thought it was supercute when I saw it last year, but I also thought, “Thank God I don’t have to dress up like a moron and prance through the store….”
Little did I know that I’d be taking over the community relations program and, sure enough, would be dressing up for Halloween. When I took the position back in February, I didn’t give much thought to the goofier aspects of the job. But, being the good book lady that I am, and also being one who appreciates a good opportunity to be silly, I decided to step it up and get a fun costume for this year.
I grew up in Kansas City and have always loved The Wizard of Oz, so I thought Dorothy would be the perfect costume. Until I googled costumes and found that most of them looked like this:
(And that’s kind of tame compared to some of them.)
Yeah, that’s not so family friendly, and there’s no way in hell I’m dressing up like a hoochie mama Dorothy. Since when did Halloween become an excuse to dress like a total ho bag? You can’t just be a nurse or a fairy or a police officer…you have to be a sexy nurse, or a sexy fairy, or, well, you get the picture. Ladies, are you with me on this?
Determined to keep the Dorothy dream alive, I asked my mother-in-law, who is a fabulous seamstress, if she would make me a costume. She looked at me a little funny, reminded herself that all of her daughters-in-law are a little crazy, and quickly agreed. So today, I’m happily rocking a totally wholesome custom made Dorothy costume (photos to come) and feeling like the real thing.
Except that in Book Lady Land, Dorothy wears these:
Are you doing anything fun for Halloween?
October Reading Wrap-Up
2008 at 8am Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
Whew! It’s been a busy month. I’m honestly surprised I was able to meet my standing average of 10 books per month with all that I had going on, but I had a couple great Sundays where I snuggled up on the couch and just read all day, and that always seems to make things better.
I mixed things up a bit this month with two books I probably wouldn’t have tried on my own, The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner, which I read (and loved!) at the request of Jessica from WaterBrook Press, and Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot, which is a little fluffier than what I normally read but was perfect for a lazy weekend when I wasn’t feeling so hot. Don’t you love it when you take a reading risk and the books are really good?
Here’s what I read this month. Click the covers to read my reviews.
I also participated in my first blog tour for Lesley Dormen’s The Best Place to Be. 
It’s tough to choose a favorite this month because these books are all so different. And the award goes to…..drumroll please:
Fiction: I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass
Non-Fiction: The Longest Trip Home by John Grogan
What’s the best book you read this month?
This day brought to you by the letter A (Phraseology, Day 1)
2008 at 2pm Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
Being the word nerd that I am, I was superstoked when Ryan at Sourcebooks agreed to send me a copy of Barbara Ann Kipfer’s new book Phraseology. Described as “the ultimate collection of everything you never knew about the wonderful words and phrases found in the English language,” this book is a bilbiophile’s dream.
Phraseology is divided into sections, with one for each letter of the alphabet, and is filled with interesting information about word origins, colloquial phrases, and just about everything you can think of. Because it’s not really the type of book you sit down and read from front to back, I’ve decided to feature fun facts from each section, one letter at a time, for the next 26 days instead of writing a summary review. So, without further ado, the letter A.
First, the food-related facts. I’ll bet you didn’t know that in diner slang, an Abbott and Costello is frankfurters and beans or that Adam and Eve is two fried or poached eggs. If you want toast with it, order an Adam and Eve on a raft. American cheese hails from England. Hope this revelation doesn’t result in another “freedom fries” type debacle.
Now for grammatical/vocabular correctness, which I love. All ready means “prepared;” already means “previously.” Learn it, love it, use it, people. Additionally, use any more if you mean “any additional” and anymore if you mean “nowadays” or “any longer.” As in “We don’t have any more cookies,” and “Kids just don’t behave properly anymore.” Achilles’ heel should have the apostrophe, but is often written without it; Achilles tendon has no apostrophe.
Feel bogged down in election propaganda and can’t decide whom to vote for? You might have analysis paralysis, which is the condition of being unable to make a decision to the availability of too much information which must be processed in order for the decision to be made. Are you a Democrat married to a Republican? Maybe you should just agree to disagree, a concept that dates back to 1770. (who knew?)
Ladies everywhere should thank Christian Dior for creating the A-line, that most figure-flattering silhouette.
Have you tried caviar and aren’t sure what all the fuss is about? You’re not alone; among foods, it is the dish most often cited as an acquired taste. Don’t forget to use your Arkansas toothpick, which is a bowie knife or similar mid-size pocketknife.
If you’re not sure something is the real thing, you might want to conduct an acid test—a test which is conclusive of the value or success of something—a term that derives from the original use of nitric acid as a test for gold.
Do you have any fun facts to share about A words?
Maya Angelou on Book TV
2008 at 12pm Posted by Rebecca Schinsky
Maya Angelou will appear on C-Span2′s Book TV this weekend to discuss her recent essay collection Letter to My Daughter. Her discussion will air this Saturday, November 1st at 7pm Eastern and will re-run Sunday evening at 10pm Eastern. Click the icon for further details.
Letter to My Daughter is one of the best books I’ve read all year (if not in several years), and it falls into my “required reading for life,” category because the timeless wisdom and insights Angelou offers from her remarkable life are important and applicable for just about everyone. Click the cover below to read my review.
