Devious Derivations: Popular Misconceptions, and More Than 1,000 True Origins of Common Words and PhrasesThis complete summary packed with colorful and educational anecdotes offers information about the odd origins of such diverse words and phrases as condom, sirloin, horse latitudes, harlot, and shyster. |
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Page 53
... spelling merely represents the southern English pronunciation of crap ( from the Middle English crap or crappe ... spellings were used interchangeably throughout much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries . Thus , in the eighteenth ...
... spelling merely represents the southern English pronunciation of crap ( from the Middle English crap or crappe ... spellings were used interchangeably throughout much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries . Thus , in the eighteenth ...
Page 170
... spelling from raff , meaning a large number , to raft , in the same sense , may be a tribute to the carrying capacity of rafts , however . The spelling change crops up first in the United States at about the time that settlers were ...
... spelling from raff , meaning a large number , to raft , in the same sense , may be a tribute to the carrying capacity of rafts , however . The spelling change crops up first in the United States at about the time that settlers were ...
Page 209
... spelling of vagrant was influenced by vagabond from the time of its appearance in English , however , with the Rolls of Parliament for 1444 including a reference to an earlier statute covering " Laborers ... Vi- taillers , Servauntz and ...
... spelling of vagrant was influenced by vagabond from the time of its appearance in English , however , with the Rolls of Parliament for 1444 including a reference to an earlier statute covering " Laborers ... Vi- taillers , Servauntz and ...
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Devious Derivations: Popular Misconceptions, and More Than 1,000 True ... Hugh Rawson No preview available - 1994 |
Common terms and phrases
abbreviation acronym actually American Anglo-Saxon animal appears applied Arabic associated ball began bird bogus British called Captain Francis Charles Cheshire cat citation Classical Dictionary comes Condom corruption crap dance dated derives devil Dixie Dutch earliest example early edition English Language 1755 eponym Etymological Dictionary etymologists etymology euphemism explanation expression farthingale fawney female folk etymology Francis Grose German golliwogg goose Greek Gung hatter horse humble pie Italian James John Johnson known Latin linguistic London McCoy meaning meanwhile medieval Middle English Middle French modern nineteenth century Old French Old Norse older Oxford English Dictionary perhaps person phrase popular probably real McCoy recorded referring rhyme root sailors Samuel Samuel Johnson Scottish seems sense seventeenth century Shakespeare sixteenth century slang soldiers song Spanish spelling story suggested supposedly term theory Thomas Crapper translation turn variant verb vessel Vulgar Tongue William woman word origins word's Yankee York