This book was OK for a reference but not fun to read. Maybe that is asking to much for a reference book.

Today I again wished I still had access to THEREBY HANGS A TALE. I had read most of it years ago while staying with a friend and have missed its delightful insights into how our language grows and changes. Each word's origin is explained with great humor and insight. This time, however, instead of just feeling blue for not having it, I searched Amazon.com [bless them and their search engine] and by golly, Ollie, I found it. I can't wait to lay eyes and mind again on its wondrous pages. If you don't already love words and their deeper meanings, this may stimulate you into a grand new experience with one of life's simple pleasures.

What a fun book! We often pull this one off the shelf when we use an expression and wonder where it comes from. It is a book that invites browsing, and is hard to close once you are into it. We've learned all sorts of great stuff from this book, and since language does not develop in a void, what we have gleaned from this book has led us to research and learning about other areas as well.

I came across this book at a local bookstore that had a selection of books for word lovers. I perused it while I drank my frappacino, and soon was convinced I had to take it home with me. It is the most intriguing book I have ever read. It is formatted like a dictionary, but for everyone who loves word origin and other trivia, you will come back to it time and again. It is an example of useless knowledge at its best. The history of the word "omelette" is absolutely fascinating, and the evolution in the pronunciation of "one" intrigues me. They still can't decide where "hobo" comes from.

I should mention one minute drawback--the man who first wrote these books (and his son continues the tradition) lived at the beginning of the twentieth century, so the book isn't as "hip" as the title would seem to indicate. If you aren't already interested in words, this won't get you going.

Oh Horsefeathers! Get the word out! This book is over 900 pages of entertaining trivia of cliches, word origins, historic events, classical literature, and even frontier humor plus MORE!

Author, Charles Earie Funk, (yes of Funk & Wagnalls fame) has included four previous bestselling titles, "A Hog On Ice", "Thereby Hangs", "A Tale", "Heavens To Betsy", and "Horsefeathers".

I always enjoy referring back to this fun book. It also makes for a good ice-breaker at a party or even a family gathering. Want to distract pinch-cheeking Auntie Rose? Let her have a gander at "2107 Curious Word Origins, Sayings and Expressions".

Warning--once you start thumbing through this, you'll be speaking in cliches for days!

Superb educational fun for all ages.

-CDS-

When I purchased "Hog on Ice", I expected a book with hundreds of expressions along with the historical origin of each. The books does indeed have hundreds of expressions and what they mean, but the author, when describing the origin, rarely gives a definite answer. The origins frequently have phrases like, "probably came from", "could have been", "it is likely that", etc. A great book if you only want to be entertained by learning new expressions and the meaning behind some you already know. As a historical reference, however, you may want to check out Garrisons' "Why you Say It".

I had no idea "hell-bent" came from a campaign slogan.... or why a hog on ice would be particularly independent... This is an even more professional compendium than I had expected! Its approach reminds me of Oxford's, by including the earliest *known* usage and context. Colloquialism is a tricky field-- because it spreads from person-to-person, by nature, nobody can know ABSOLUTELY where a slang came from, or the first-ever usage and context, etc. I don't suppose it'd be very interesting to people who say "like, y'know" or "HellOOooo" or "a'ight" regularly. But it's great for those of us who think before we speak, and want to know why we speak as we do.

If you've ever wondered about the origin of the expressions that you've used, misused or abused, this is the definitive resource to set the record straight.

a great gift for someone you've caught using a malaprop/malapropism...i'm sending a copy to a friend right now who told me he's "chomping at the bit"...

My grandfather's favourite word was "horsefeathers," so when I found this book on a library shelf in my junior high school in the 70's, I was shocked to discover that the original meaning of horsefeathers was not "balderdash" as I had assumed, but something quite different.

An online argument about the etymology of the word led to my purchase of the book from amazon.com. I highly recommend it both as a source of interesting word origins and (as it was in my case), an argument-winner.

It's a good buy. And I'm not full of horsefeathers when I say it.

I wanted to find out why we, as a society, say such things as "knock on wood" or "in one ear and out the other". Where does that come from? Who started it? I was extremely excited to purchase this book, thinking it would not only answer my questions, but be entertaining. It was a major disappointment. I found the reading very dull. The sayings were obviously well researched, giving origins, dates, and analizations of each words meaning; yet it was more like a dictionary than a story of how the sayings came about.

This book has been sitting in my bookcase since the day I bought it waiting for a rummage sale.

While many of the entries were interesting, too many were included for which the author admitted he could only guess, or had no idea at all of the origin. Even the title phrase, "Heavens to Betsy" was a complete mystery to the author. Why pique our interest and then disappoint us? I think the author had a good thing going with his first books and just tried to "ride the gravy train" a little too long.

An excellent source; a good evening's read. Might just learn something while being entertained.