UID:
almafu_9959230521002883
Format:
1 online resource (x, 221 p. )
,
ill. ;
ISBN:
1-280-56048-7
,
0-19-972534-9
,
1-60256-502-3
Content:
"Word Myths takes on linguistic urban legends, not just debunking them, but also examining why they are told and what they tell us about ourselves. The book examines the patterns and comes to conclusions about such things as why we attach morbid tales to children's rhymes, why newspapers keep promulgating false origins for terms like the Windy City, or why so many words have false nautical origins."--Jacket.
Note:
Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
,
Introduction. What is a linguistic urban legend? -- Where do they come from? -- How do they vary? -- Why do we tell them? -- How are they told? -- Who tells them? -- Are we being spoilsports? -- How do we ferret out the truth? -- Debunking the big boys . Ring around the Rosie -- Ok -- The whole nine yards -- Rule of thumb -- They speak Elizabethan English in the Appalachians -- 500 Eskimo words for snow -- Windy city -- Hot dog -- The Elizabethan e-mail hoax. Throw the baby out with the bathwater -- Raining cats and dogs -- Dirt poor -- Threshold -- Pease porridge -- Bring home the bacon -- Chew the fat -- Trencher / trench mouth -- Bed and board -- Upper crust -- Wake -- Graveyard shift -- Saved by the bell and dead ringer -- Posh, phat pommies. Ichthys -- Cabal -- AWOL -- Fuck -- News and tips -- Golf -- Spud -- Wog -- Nylon -- SOS -- Pommy -- Phat -- Posh -- Canoe. Devil to pay -- Let the cat out of the bag -- Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey -- Over a barrel -- Mind your Ps and Qs -- Under the weather -- Knock off -- Son of a gun -- Railroad origins : Balling the jack ; Balls to the wall -- Ethnic origins : Lynch ; Jazz ; America -- Hookers, harlots, and condoms. Hooker -- Harlot -- Condom -- Crap -- In like Flynn -- Real McCoy -- Dixie -- Upset -- Pumpernickel -- Ellis Island name changing -- The perils of political correctness. Picnic -- Nitty gritty -- Jimmies -- Indian / In Dios -- Indian giver -- Squaw -- Hip/hep -- Gay -- Faggot -- Handicap -- Politically correct -- Tinker's dream -- Wax tadpoles and jelly doughnuts. I am a jelly doughnut -- Chevy no go -- Bite the wax tadpole -- Turn it loose and fly naked -- Kangaroo -- Gringo.
,
English
Additional Edition:
ISBN 0-19-537557-2
Additional Edition:
ISBN 0-19-517284-1
Language:
English
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