No, That's Not Where Words Come From

Real Word Origins, Busted Etymology Myths, and the Mysteries Nobody Can Explain

von Rowan Pember

132 Seiten, Taschenbuch

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

You've heard that posh comes from "Port Out, Starboard Home". It doesn't. You've heard that golf means "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden". It doesn't either.

Word-origin stories can be wonderful - memorable, confident and easy to repeat - even when the evidence says they are not true. This book takes one hundred such stories and checks each one against the evidence.

Inside:

- The acronym myths - and the acronyms that are real (TASER takes its name from "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle", after a 1911 novel)- Words falsely linked to people - crap is not from Thomas Crapper - and words genuinely named after people, including boycott and nicotine- Older forms hiding inside familiar words: an apron was once a napron, and sirloin was never knighted- Origins that sound invented but are Attested: muscle means "little mouse", disaster is a "bad star", quarantine is forty days, and cappuccino is named for the colour of the Capuchin friars' habit>Every entry carries a clear label, from Attested to Unknown, and ends with a takeaway you can repeat - so you know how solid each story is before you pass it on, and where the uncertainty must remain.

For word lovers, trivia fans, quiz setters and anyone who'd rather be interesting and right.

• Reihe: Independently published
• ISBN: 9798176061635
• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 21.09.2026
• Größe: 216 x 140 mm
• Verlag: Independently published