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Oct
30
This day brought to you by the letter A (Phraseology, Day 1)
2008 at 2pm Posted by Rebecca Joines 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?
Related posts:
What fun!
This is a great idea! I studied linguistics in college, and if I wasn’t buried under a mountain of ARCs already I definitely would have requested that book.
I look forward to the rest of the alphabet.
That sounds like a book that I MUST own.
It was one of my requests on LT Early Reviewers but in the likely case that I don’t get it, I may have to actually buy it.
Oh my…..
Yeah I know one or two people I could give this to this Christmas lol!
Achilles heel – the one part of Achilles that was not protected, as it is how his mother held him when he was dipped in the river Styx (which made all but his heel invincible).
I would be all over this book … sounds great!
Sounds really interesting read. I have a similar book on my shelf….well subject wise, that I’ve been meaning to read. It’s caled A-Z history of the Alphabet (I think) by David Sacks. Thanks for the blurb on the letter A. Im strangely reminded of sesame street, and today was brought to you by…
This is great, I’m really looking forward to the rest of these posts!
[...] 31, 2008 by Rebecca As I mentioned yesterday, I’m featuring fun facts from Barbara Ann Kipfer’s Phraseology one letter of the [...]
This is a great idea! I think etymology’s super-interesting, so I’m looking forward to the next few weeks!