Words are the building blocks of language, but their derivations are often stories in themselves. Have you ever wondered why we wear perfume, read magazines, vote for candidates and speak in jargon? With entries from assassin to villain, the authors explain the origins of 300 words.

Presented in a slipcase format, this set contains four titles. Each title describes the origins and meanings of the chosen word or phrase, giving alternatives and informed speculation where the exact facts are unclear and illustrating usage with modern quotations. The set is useful for the browser, the scholar as well as the serious student.

An idiom is an expression whose words do not mean what they say. This edition examines over 500 such phrases, tracing each one's source and history through a supply of examples. It includes playing fast and loose, head over heels, and knee-high to a grasshopper. It contains mini-essays that expand on themes such as: What is an idiom; and others.

Product Description: In Dictionary of Proverbs and Their Origins, Linda and Roger Flavell trace the origins and histories of over 400 proverbs, detailing the changes of meaning and usage that have occurred throughout each proverb's life and offering literary examples dating back over 2,000 years...read more

Product Description: After reaching America, Columbus introduced Europe to new foodstuffs such as chilli and chocolate, and the words that described them. Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the first "jubilee" in 1300, and Francis Bacon published the first "essay" in 1597...read more

Product Description: For the many categories of EFL teachers throughout the world, this book examines the main principles which concern them. By drawing upon their experience the authors have indicated a modern and practical approach.