Product Description: Did you know that "taken aback" was adopted from nautical terminology? Or that "having an axe to grind" originated in a story told by Benjamin Franklin? These and many other idioms are explained and put into context in the delightful third edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms...read more

Covers more than 7,000 alphabetically listed surnames. This title provides a companion to tracing the history of names. It includes supplementary features on famous surnames, surnames of fictional characters, pseudonyms and names from abroad which are popular in the UK, including Celtic names.

Product Description: Wobbly Bits is the essential guide to polite conversation. Coveringeverything from the politically incorrect to the seriously taboo, thishumorous book offers over 3,000 ways to avoid speaking your mind! Keep this book as your secret weapon (that 'distinguished,cosmetically different person of size' your friend keeps mentioningmight just not be your ideal date!), and you'll never be caught outagain!Subjects covered include crime, sins, sex, the body and its parts,clothing and nakedness, bodily functions and secretions, illness andinjury, old age and death, work, poverty, government and politics,warfare and race...read more

Product Description: This vivid picture of a century of linguistic innovation serves up a smorgasbord of words added to the English language from 1900 to 2004. As Ayto moves through the century a decade at a time, it's fascinating to see how newly coined words capture or call to mind so much of our history--motor-bike (1903), talkie (1913), flapper (1921), Blitzkrieg (1939), pin-up (1941), atom bomb (1945), flying saucer (1947), Sputnik (1957), beatnik (1958), black power (1966), personal computer (1976), yuppie (1982), AIDS (1984), dotcom (1994), 9/11 (2001), and podcasting (2004), to name just a few...read more

Completely updated for the twenty-first century, this top-selling reference presents imaginitive definitions and origins of thousands of words, idioms, catchphrases, slogans, nicknames, and events from TV, literature, music, comic strips, and computer games.

A browsable 'heritage tour' of more than 7000 places and place-names in Britain and Ireland.

Each headword in this work gives a story about how a particular word came into the English language and evolved over time. In addition, each headword entry includes meanings and how each word is used in context.

Product Description: Here, John Ayto has brought together over 10,000 slang words and phrases common to 20th-century English, to provide a comprehensive and highly engaging guide to the most outspoken corner of our language. Unlike most such dictionaries, this volume is organized thematically, with slang words gathered under such headings as "the body and its functions" or "sustenance and intoxication...read more

Offers the origins and meanings of over three thousand rhyming slang words and phrases covering themes including illness, ethnicity, family, and clothing.

A language problem-solver that answers all questions on: confused and misused words; spelling; usage; pronunciation; grammar; punctuation; and British and American English. This is a reference guide for students who need to improve their literacy quickly. Its clear and simple layout makes it suitable for children of 10+ right through to adults.

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Useful for school students, this work is a dictionary of word origins. Each headword entry gives a complete story about how a particular word came into the English language and evolved over time. Each headword entry also includes meanings and how each word is used in context. It covers themes like: acronyms, eponyms, invented words, and blends.

Gives the origin and meaning of a wide variety of food terms, including historical and literary references and related uses, both British and American.

Stripped to its origins the English language is derived from Latin, French and the Germanic languages. This dictionary provides a concise history of over 8000 of the most commonly used words, spanning from derivations as simple as 'a' and 'one' from 'an', to the most obscure lexical relations.

Product Description: We may enjoy freedom of speech, but when dealing with certain subjects - for instance death, poverty, physical appearance - we are rarely free to express ourselves directly. Personal shame, the frailty of those we speak to and society's politically correct standards have all contributed to the ever-growing collection of descriptive, and often hilarious, expressions created to circumnavigate the unmentionable...read more

Containing more than eight thousand entries, this guide to the history of the English language traces word origins from their Indo-European roots and reveals the links between seemingly unrelated words such as 'bacteria' and 'imbecile'

Product Description: From" Angels on Horseback" to "Zabaglione" this lively and authoritative guide presents the meaning, origin, and development of over 1,200 food and drink terms. The book's rich spread will delight all those who want to discover more about what they eat and drink...read more

Product Description: Seasoned generously with literary wit, A Diner's Dictionary is a veritable feast, tracing the origins and history of over 1,200 gastronomical words and phrases. John Ayto spreads across our table a veritable cornucopia, from common fruits and vegetables (apples, cherries, apricots, and broccoli, to name a few), to exotic foreign dishes such as gado-gado, nasi goreng, satay, and dashi, and even junk foods such as doughnuts, brownies, and candy...read more

A dictionary of modern slang draws on the resources of the 'Oxford English Dictionary' to cover over five thousand slang words and phrases from throughout the English-speaking world.