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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.
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