Capturing English idiom in the wild: Red Herrings and White Elephants

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	• Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day Albert Jack HarperCollins, 2006 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Get Smarter

This book is a ton of fun. Okay, it may not be the most concise but for what it is it is fun. It was written by the Brits though and so a few of the phrases I've never heard. If you are a know it all, crazy about etymology or you just enjoy oddball trivia books, this book is fun, very informative.

Capturing English idiom in the wild: Red Herrings and White Elephants

This book explores the origin of common phrases used in every day speech.

Those reading the book should be aware that not all of the derivations presented are uncontested, and that a couple of the explanations seem truncated.

For example, I would recommend that anyone who is interested in the origin of 'biting the bullet' needs to be aware that the underlying rumour was that the grease was made out of cow or pig fat. The cow is sacred to the Hindu and the pig is an unclean animal to the Muslim. Therefore whether Hindu or Muslim, they felt that they were being forced into a polluting practice. While it is possible that some of the cartridges were made with pig or bullock fat, the contractors had been instructed to use mutton.

The book itself is an entertaining and easy to read addition to a reference library on English language.

Recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

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So that's where that saying comes from

I find these stories about expressions we use, like giving someone the whole nine yards, absolutely fascinating, and this book has hundreds of them, usefully organized. I even like paging through it for fifteen minutes before going to sleep, like having bite sized short stories. Great source for cocktail party conversation, and might make you seem very learned indeed.

read with a friend nearby

This is not the kind of book that you can just sit down and read. It is absolutely mandatory that you have someone nearby that you can tap on the shoulder and ask if they know what a red herring is or a white elephant. And then minutes later you will be bothering them with another gem that you just have to share. And then you interrupt them yet again with another one. Definitely a fun, interactive book.

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Red Herrings and White Elephants

I love useless knowledge and this gives an ample supply and answers some of those impervious little questions.

reviews: page 1, 2

Mad hatter . . . pie in the sky . . . egg on your face. We use these phrases every day, yet how many of us know what they really mean or where they came from?

From bringing home the bacon to leaving no stone unturned, the English language is peppered with hundreds of common idioms borrowed from ancient traditions and civilizations throughout the world. In Red Herrings and White Elephants, Albert Jack has uncovered the amazing and sometimes downright bizarre stories behind many of our most familiar and eccentric modes of expression:

If you happen to be a bootlegger, your profession recalls the Wild West outlaws who sold illegal alcohol by concealing slender bottles of whiskey in their boots. If you're on cloud nine, you owe a nod to the American Weather Bureau's classification of clouds, the ninth topping out all others at a mountainous 40,000 feet. If you opt for the hair of the dog the morning after, you're following the advice of medieval English doctors, who recommended rubbing the hair of a dog into the wound left by the animal's bite.

A delightful compendium of anecdotes on everything from minding your p's and q's to pulling out all the stops, Red Herrings and White Elephants is an essential handbook for language-lovers of all ages.

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