March Hares and Monkeys' Uncles
March Hares and Monkeys' Uncles

Author: Harry Oliver

Publisher: Metro Publishing, Limited

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 9781844546701

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Whilst we might choose our words carefully, we rarely think about the origins behind the many phrases, place names and expressions we use everyday. Yet, behind these words lies a fascinating story, steeped in the weird and wonderful history and traditions of everyday life. From hundreds of commonplace and more quirky terms, to names of streets, cities and public houses, this fascinating and fun book answers the questions you've always had about the wonderful language we all use, yet seldom think about.So if it's all Greek to you and seems like hocus pocus, for Pete's sake don't be left on tenderhooks, have a gander at this idiosyncractic tome. Make no bones about it - it's the bee's knees!

Bees Knees and Barmy Armies - Origins of the Words and Phrases we Use Every Day
Bees Knees and Barmy Armies - Origins of the Words and Phrases we Use Every Day

Author: Harry Oliver

Publisher: Metro Publishing

Published: 2010-10-15

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1857829441

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Every day we pepper our speech with hundreds of phrases, place names and expressions, but rarely do we think about their origins. If we did, we'd be in for a treat, because the stories behind our sayings are often fascinating, amusing and intriguing. Following on from the bestselling March Hares and Monkeys' Uncles, once again Harry Oliver has delved deep into the history behind hundreds of terms in our endlessly rich language, and produced a tome packed with answers to the questions you might ask about the words and phrases we all use but rarely stop to ponder. From ancient idioms to up-to-the-minute lingo, this book has it all.

What is English?
What is English?

Author: Tim William Machan

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2013-08-23

Total Pages: 413

ISBN-13: 0191668362

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What is English? Can we be as certain as we usually are when we say something is not English? To find some answers Tim Machan explores the language's present and past, and looks ahead to its futures among the one and a half billion people who speak it. His search is fascinating and important, for definitions of English have influenced education and law in many countries and helped shape the identities of those who live in them. Finding an account that fits the constantly changing varieties of English is, Tim Machan finds, anything but simple. But he rises to the challenge, grappling with its elusive essence through episodes in its history. He looks at the ambitions of Caxton, the preoccupations of Johnson, and the eloquence of Churchill, tussles with the jargons of contemporary business, and pursues his object from rural America to James Cook's Australia. He examines creoles, pidgins, and dialects, and takes apart competing histories showing their assumptions and prejudices. Finally he reveals the stable category English, resting paradoxically within its constantly mutating forms and varieties. This is a book for everyone interested in English and the role of language in society and culture.

Black Cats & April Fools - Origins of Old Wives Tales and Superstitions in Our Daily Lives
Black Cats & April Fools - Origins of Old Wives Tales and Superstitions in Our Daily Lives

Author: Harry Oliver

Publisher: Metro Publishing

Published: 2009-06-01

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 1857829476

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We have all touched wood to ward off misfortune, or seen a bride throw a bouquet over her head at a wedding, but how often do we stop to think about where such customs come from, or why we still use them? The truth is that behind many of our daily rituals and beliefs lies a fascinating history of weird and wonderful notions, some rational, others fanciful, that provide a rich and entertaining addition to our lives. In this charming and endlessly diverting book, best-selling author Harry Oliver has delved into the stories behind our rich traditions to explain them to us with characteristic wit and flair, in a gem of a volume that will clear up any of the niggling doubts you may have about our everyday beliefs. So before you search for any more four-leaf clovers, worry about the next Friday 13th or tell someone that chocolate will give them spots, dip into this amazing tome and discover the truth about our diverse beliefs so that next time your ear itches you'll know if someone's really talking about you!

Uncle John's 24-Karat Gold Bathroom Reader
Uncle John's 24-Karat Gold Bathroom Reader

Author: Bathroom Readers' Institute

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-07-15

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 1607106558

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The twenty-fourth edition in the bestselling bathroom-reading series is jam-packed with over 500 pages of absorbing trivia material. The information miners at the Bathroom Readers’ Institute have unearthed a priceless collection of surprising, amazing, head-scratching, and hilarious articles. Divided by length for your sitting convenience, 24-Karat Gold is chock-full of little-known history, random origins, weird news, celebrity secrets, and urban legends. As always, you’ll find plenty of dumb criminals, clever wordplay, quirky quotations, and much, much more. Just open to any page—who knows what treasures await you? · Judges gone wild · The Barbie scandals · Canada’s underpants king · Helen Keller: vaudeville star · The double A-bomb survivors · The history of the umbrella · America's forbidden island · What the Hokey Pokey is really all about And much, much more

In a Manner of Speaking
In a Manner of Speaking

Author: Colin McNairn

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2015-04-28

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 1632208989

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What do “the whole kit and caboodle,” “the whole shebang,” “the whole megillah,” “the whole enchilada,” “the whole nine yards,” “the whole box and dice,” and “the full Monty” have in common? They’re all expressions that mean “the entire quantity,” and they’re all examples of the breadth and depth of the English-speaking world’s vocabulary. From the multitude of words and phrases in daily use, the author of this delightful exploration into what we say and why we say it zeroes in on those expressions and sayings and their variations that are funny, quirky, just plain folksy, or playfully dressed up in rhyme or alliteration. Some may have become clichés that, as it’s said with “tongue in cheek,” should be “avoided like the plague.” Others have been distorted, deemed politically incorrect, or shrouded in mystery and must bear some explanation. Among the topics the author delves into are expressions that shouldn’t be taken literally (“dressed to kill” and “kick the bucket”), foreign expressions that crept into English (“carte blanche,” “carpe diem,” and “que sera, sera”), phrases borrowed from print ads and TV commercials (“where there’s life, there’s Bud” and “where the rubber meets the road”), animal images (“a barrel of monkeys” and “chasing your tail”), and food and drink (“cast your bread upon the water,” “chew the fat,” “bottom’s up!”, and “drink as a lord”). Here’s a book for everyone who delights in the mysteries of language and the perfect gift for all the “wordies” in your life.

Languaging Diversity Volume 2
Languaging Diversity Volume 2

Author: David Britain

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2016-09-23

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 1443812927

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This volume explores the complex relationship between language and identity from various critical perspectives and by means of different research methodologies. Following the earlier collection, Languaging Diversity: Identities, Genres, Discourses, this book provides further insights into the multifaceted process of identity construction through language. The choice of dealing with the broad concept of ‘diversity’ underlines the inclusiveness of this text, which was conceived to analyse how identities are linguistically and socially construed, maintained and challenged in a vast array of sociolinguistic contexts. The choice of collecting papers concerning the thorny issue of language and diversity is grounded on the idea that individual identities are dynamic and socially negotiated in interaction and discourse, with language choices being true acts of identity (Le Page and Tabouret-Keller, 1985) by means of which people’s selves are performed and defined. To offer wide yet accurate descriptions of how identities are variously conveyed linguistically, this volume offers a varied approach to diversity, by covering different fields of research, from the investigation of ethnic minorities’ identities to the socio-linguistic and cultural status of Scots, to mention but two examples. The book consists of nine selected papers dealing with professional, cultural, ethnic and social identities, gender ideologies and national stereotypes built and negotiated in language practices and discourse .In particular, this work tackles a wide set of key topics: the construction and legitimation of ESOL teachers’ identities in their community of practice, multidimensional research on Italian immigrants’ distinctiveness, the negotiation of self in bilingual families, Scottish national belonging and attitudes towards the Scots language, the correlation between sexism and gender categories, and the development of a positive approach to diversity via enhanced critical awareness of culture-bound stereotypes.

Cat Flaps and Mouse Traps
Cat Flaps and Mouse Traps

Author: Harry Oliver

Publisher: Metro Publishing, Limited

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9781844544745

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Why did Isaac Newton invent the cat flap? How did the first mousetrap come about? Why did it take nearly 20 years to make sliced bread?From the moment the alarm clock wakes us up in the morning until the time we switch the light off at night, we are surrounded by things without which our lives would be impossible: microwaves, televisions, cars, cell phones, and credit cards—the list is endless. Yet how often do we consider how such miniature wonders of our lives came about, who invented them, and why? The answers are often incredibly interesting. In this delightful volume, Harry Oliver reveals the most diverting and amusing stories that lie behind the objects and inventions we take for granted, from household items to the technology that fills our world. Everything around us was born from an idea, and as you read the pages in this book, the ordinary will soon appear rather more extraordinary than it did before.

Science Fraud: Darwin's Plagiarism of Patrick Matthew's Theory
Science Fraud: Darwin's Plagiarism of Patrick Matthew's Theory

Author: Mike Sutton

Publisher: SCB Distributors

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 1838128077

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Patrick Matthew, in 1831, originated the complete theory of evolution by natural selection in his book On Naval Timber and Arboriculture, and did so before Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace claimed to independently replicate it in 1858. Unjustly, and against the Arago convention on priority (a ruling that gives origination of any science theory to the first to publish), Matthew has been illicitly denied his priority on the grounds he never influenced anyone with his breakthrough. Today, Big Data research has uncovered Darwin’s science fraud by plagiarism, revealing evidence which proves beyond all reasonable doubt that he and Alfred Wallace both independently plagiarised the theory of evolution by natural selection from Patrick Matthew. Books have been newly unearthed in the publication record to show that at least 30 people cited Matthew’s work in published literature before 1858 and that several were known influencers of Darwin’s and Wallace’s work in the field. Additionally, several people in Darwin’s and Wallace’s social circles were first to be second into print using original terms coined by Matthew in his bombshell breakthrough book. This book reveals all the newly unearthed data and essentially explains it, alongside the deplorable treatment of Patrick Matthew, in scholarly historical context. Dr Mike Sutton further reveals, using social science participatory observation methods and experimental results, how members of the so-called Darwin Industry, enabled and facilitated by the deliberate publication of falsehoods and other grossly misleading editing on Wikipedia, have disgracefully worked to re-bury these newly unearthed facts by means of knee-jerk blind-sight ignorant rejection, blatant and deliberate fact-denial censorship, persistent and serious workplace harassment, obscene social media abuse, poison pen emails, lies, mischievous misrepresentation, and repeat research plagiarism.