Not just for lawyers, these illuminating histories of popular law-related expressions will delight anyone fascinated by words, by history, or by law and law enforcement Law-related words and phrases abound in our everyday language, often without our being aware of their origins or their particular legal significance: boilerplate, jailbait, pound of flesh, rainmaker, the third degree. This insightful and entertaining book reveals the unknown stories behind familiar legal expressions that come from sources as diverse as Shakespeare, vaudeville, and Dr. Seuss. Separate entries for each expression follow no prescribed formula but instead focus on the most interesting, enlightening, and surprising aspects of the words and their evolution. Popular myths and misunderstandings are explored and exploded, and the entries are augmented with historical images and humorous sidebars. Lively and unexpected, Lawtalk will draw a diverse array of readers with its abundance of linguistic, legal, historical, and cultural information. Those readers should be forewarned: upon finishing one entry, there is an irresistible temptation to turn to another, and yet another . . .

A revised, enlarged, and updated edition of this authoritative and entertaining reference book-named the #2 essential home library reference book by the Wall Street Journal "Shapiro does original research, earning [this] volume a place on the quotation shelf next to Bartlett's and Oxford's."-William Safire, New York Times Magazine (on the original edition) "The most accurate, thorough, and up-to-date quotation book ever compiled."-Bryan A. Garner, Los Angeles Review of Books Updated to include more than a thousand new quotations, this reader-friendly volume contains over twelve thousand famous quotations, arranged alphabetically by author and sourced from literature, history, popular culture, sports, digital culture, science, politics, law, the social sciences, and all other aspects of human activity. Contemporaries added to this edition include Beyonce, Sandra Cisneros, James Comey, Drake, Louise Gluck, LeBron James, Brett Kavanaugh, Lady Gaga, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Barack Obama, John Oliver, Nancy Pelosi, Vladimir Putin, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and David Foster Wallace. The volume also reflects path-breaking recent research resulting in the updating of quotations from the first edition with more accurate wording or attribution. It has also incorporated noncontemporary quotations that have become relevant to the present day. In addition, The New Yale Book of Quotations reveals the striking fact that women originated many familiar quotations, yet their roles have been forgotten and their verbal inventions have often been credited to prominent men instead. This book's quotations, annotations, extensive cross-references, and large keyword index will satisfy both the reader who seeks specific information and the curious browser who appreciates an amble through entertaining pages.

This extensive collection of proverbs, all coined after 1900, reflects the experiences and perplexities of the modern world "You can't unring a bell." "It takes a village to raise a child." "Life is just a bowl of cherries." We sometimes think of proverbs as expressions of ancient wisdom, but in fact new proverbs are constantly arising. This unique volume is devoted exclusively to English-language proverbs that originated in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The most complete and accurate such collection ever compiled, The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs presents more than 1,400 individual proverbs gathered and researched with the help of electronic full-text databases not previously used for such a project. Entries are organized alphabetically by key words, with information about the earliest datable appearance, origin, history, and meaning of each proverb. Mundane or sublime, serious or jocular, these memorable sayings represent virtually every aspect of the modern experience. Readers will find the book almost impossible to put down once opened; every page offers further proof of the immense vitality of proverbs and their colorful contributions to the oral traditions of today.

Whether in a modern legal case or a Hollywood courtroom drama, the successful practice of law rests heavily on incisive, pithy, and often witty language.

This collection of more than 3,000 thematically arranged quotations includes pronouncements from leading judges and legal commentators, as well as hundreds of quotations from literature, the movies, and popular song. Here Oliver Wendell Holmes, Clarence Darrow, and Abraham Lincoln share the pages with Mark Twain, Will Rogers, Kurt Vonnegut, Woody Allen, and Bob Dylan.

The most scholarly and complete reference work of its kind, it also includes extensive author and keyword indexes, and is a must for lawyers, students, and anyone interested in the legal system.

Here in a full linked, easily searchable CD-ROM are two classic legal reference works: Bryan Garner's Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, Second Edition, and Fred Shapiro's Oxford Dictionary of American Legal Quotations. With more than 9,000 definitions and more than 3,500 quotations on all aspects of the law, The Lawyer's Reference Shelf is a valuable professional resource for art who study, teach, practice, or write about the law -- merging the "indispensable" legal dictionary (Michigan Bar Journal with the "standard" (Library Journal) legal quotations source in one carefully integrated research tool.