Port Out, Starboard Home
Port Out, Starboard Home

Author: Michael Quinion

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13:

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What is the true origin of the phrase 'one fell swoop'? Does the word 'honeymoon' really derive from an old Persian custom of giving the happy couple mead, a honey wine, for the first month after the wedding? The rapid growth of the internet and the use of email has increased the circulation of (usually) false tales about the evolution of language. In this entertaining and fascinating new book on the origins of words and expressions, Michael Quinion retells the mythic tales that have become popular currency - the word 'posh' deriving from 'port out, starboard home' - and also tries to find and explain the true stories behind the origins of phrases. Quinion offers explanations of why and how stories about words are created, and how misunderstanding word origins - while usually harmless - can have serious consequences.

Why is Q Always Followed by U?
Why is Q Always Followed by U?

Author: Michael Quinion

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2009-07-02

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 014195969X

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Long-time word-detective and bestselling author of Port Out, Starboard Home, Michael Quinion brings us the answers to nearly two hundred of the most intriguing questions he's been asked about language over the years. Sent to him by enquiring readers from all around the globe, Michael's answers about the meanings and histories behind the quirky phrases, slang and language that we all use are set to delight, amuse and enlighten even the most hardened word-obsessive. Did you know that 'Blighty' comes from an ancient Arabic word? Or that Liberace cried his way to the bank so many times people think he came up with the phrase? That 'cloud nine' started out as 'cloud seven' in the speakeasies of '30s America? And that the first person to have their thunder stolen was a dismal playwright from Drury Lane? Michael Quinion's Why is Q Always Followed By U? is full of surprising discoveries, entertaining quotations and memorable information. There are plenty of colourful stories out there, but Michael Quinion will help you discover the truth that lies behind the cock-and-bull stories and make sure you're always linguistically on the ball.

Word Myths
Word Myths

Author: David Wilton

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-11-06

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0199740836

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Do you "know" that posh comes from an acronym meaning "port out, starboard home"? That "the whole nine yards" comes from (pick one) the length of a WWII gunner's belt; the amount of fabric needed to make a kilt; a sarcastic football expression? That Chicago is called "The Windy City" because of the bloviating habits of its politicians, and not the breeze off the lake? If so, you need this book. David Wilton debunks the most persistently wrong word histories, and gives, to the best of our actual knowledge, the real stories behind these perennially mis-etymologized words. In addition, he explains why these wrong stories are created, disseminated, and persist, even after being corrected time and time again. What makes us cling to these stories, when the truth behind these words and phrases is available, for the most part, at any library or on the Internet? Arranged by chapters, this book avoids a dry A-Z format. Chapters separate misetymologies by kind, including The Perils of Political Correctness (picnics have nothing to do with lynchings), Posh, Phat Pommies (the problems of bacronyming--the desire to make every word into an acronym), and CANOE (which stands for the Conspiracy to Attribute Nautical Origins to Everything). Word Myths corrects long-held and far-flung examples of wrong etymologies, without taking the fun out of etymology itself. It's the best of both worlds: not only do you learn the many wrong stories behind these words, you also learn why and how they are created--and what the real story is.

Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds
Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds

Author: Michael Quinion

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2006-03-14

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0060851538

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The cat's pajamas, the bee's knees, and the whole nine yards rolled into one, this true feast for word lovers skewers commonly accepted word-origin myths and etymological folktales. Writing with flair and authority, word maven and Oxford English Dictionary contributor Michael Quinion shows us that the real story behind a word or phrase is often much stranger than the commonly accepted one. With this book in your arsenal, you'll have the last word in every word-lover's game of one-upmanship. So if you've ever wondered why we utter such oddities as "raining cats and dogs," "I couldn't care less," or "twenty-three skidoo," this one's for you. No ballyhoo!

Skyfaring
Skyfaring

Author: Mark Vanhoenacker

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2015-06-02

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0385351828

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A poetic and nuanced exploration of the human experience of flight that reminds us of the full imaginative weight of our most ordinary journeys—and reawakens our capacity to be amazed. The twenty-first century has relegated airplane flight—a once remarkable feat of human ingenuity—to the realm of the mundane. Mark Vanhoenacker, a 747 pilot who left academia and a career in the business world to pursue his childhood dream of flight, asks us to reimagine what we—both as pilots and as passengers—are actually doing when we enter the world between departure and discovery. In a seamless fusion of history, politics, geography, meteorology, ecology, family, and physics, Vanhoenacker vaults across geographical and cultural boundaries; above mountains, oceans, and deserts; through snow, wind, and rain, renewing a simultaneously humbling and almost superhuman activity that affords us unparalleled perspectives on the planet we inhabit and the communities we form.

Port Side Pirates
Port Side Pirates

Author: Oscar Seaworthy

Publisher: Barefoot Books

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 9781846860621

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Join the pirates as they go to sea.

Tales of St. Austin's
Tales of St. Austin's

Author: P. G. Wodehouse

Publisher:

Published: 2018-05-27

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 3963769548

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Tales of St. Austin's is a collection of short stories and essays, all with a school theme, by P. G. Wodehouse. It was first published on 10 November 1903 by Adam & Charles Black, London, all except one item having previously appeared in the schoolboy magazines, The Captain and Public School Magazine. The stories are set in the fictional public school of St. Austin's, which was also the setting for The Pothunters (1902); they revolve around cricket, rugby, petty gambling and other boyish escapades.

Starboard
Starboard

Author: Nicola Skinner

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2023-06-06

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0063071754

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Nicola Skinner's inventive, funny, surprising prose once again tells an honest story of big emotions, making Starboard the perfect follow-up to the critically acclaimed Storm. Kirsten Bramble is too famous to have friends. That’s what she tells herself, anyway—but with the end of her hit reality TV show barreling toward her, Kirsten’s not sure she’s ready to say goodbye to her lonely life of fame. Luckily—or unluckily—Kirsten can’t help being plunged headfirst into a new adventure when she’s dragged on a class trip to visit the SS Great Britain. Because somehow, the ancient ship can speak to her—and she wants Kirsten to be her new captain. The ship pulls out of the harbor with no sails and no working engine, and try as Kirsten might, she can’t convince the ship to turn back until they find a way to help her finish her final quest. Kirsten doesn’t feel like a captain—but along the way, she may just realize that the ending of an adventure, while scary, can be just as special as the beginning.

Word by Word
Word by Word

Author: Kory Stamper

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2018-03-06

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 110197026X

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“We think of English as a fortress to be defended, but a better analogy is to think of English as a child. We love and nurture it into being, and once it gains gross motor skills, it starts going exactly where we don’t want it to go: it heads right for the goddamned electrical sockets.” With wit and irreverence, lexicographer Kory Stamper cracks open the obsessive world of dictionary writing, from the agonizing decisions about what to define and how to do it to the knotty questions of ever-changing word usage. Filled with fun facts—for example, the first documented usage of “OMG” was in a letter to Winston Churchill—and Stamper’s own stories from the linguistic front lines (including how she became America’s foremost “irregardless” apologist, despite loathing the word), Word by Word is an endlessly entertaining look at the wonderful complexities and eccentricities of the English language.