Port Out, Starboard Home by Michael Quinion

Port Out, Starboard Home by Michael Quinion

Can it really be true that 'golf' stands for 'Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden'? Or that 'rule of thumb' comes from an archaic legal principle that a man may chastise his wife, but only with a rod no thicker than his thumb? These and hundreds of other stories are commonly told and retold whenever people meet. They grow up in part because expressions are often genuinely mysterious. Why, for example, are satisfying meals 'square' rather than any other shape? And how did anyone ever come up with the idea that if you're competent at something you can 'cut the mustard'? Michael Quinion here retells many of the more bizarre tales, and explains their real origins where they're known. This is a fascinating treasure-trove of fiction and fact for anyone interested in language.

Michael Quinion's World Wide Words is the web authority on English etymology (word origins) and usage-come here for definitive information on some of the most interesting, amusing and downright weird words and phrases in the English language* Cambridge Dictionaries Online web site (February 2003) *

Michael Quinion has contributed to the Oxford Dictionary of New Words (2nd edition), edited the weekly Daily Telegraph new words column, and is author of a dictionary of affixes, Ologies and Isms (OUP). He has made countless contributions to the OED. Since 1996 he has produced the weekly e-newsletter World Wide Words, which has an associated website. He lives in Bristol.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780141012230
ISBN 10	0141012234
Title	Port Out, Starboard Home
Author	Michael Quinion
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Books Ltd
Year published	2005-09-01
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable