A fascinating guide to thousands of quotations about which there is more to be said

Unravel the meaning, origin, and usage of over 6,000 phrases from book and film titles, idioms and cliches, to nicknames, slogans and quotations with this modern and entertaining guide to wonderful phrases by one of the world's best-known wordsmiths.

A guide to domestic catchphrases. It examines those familiar phrases that we tend to trot out unthinkingly as a way of dealing with life's little difficulties and embarrassments. It includes numerous fobbing-off phrases used by parents to deal with children's questions ('Why?' 'Y's a crooked letter), and mangled words ('semi-skilled milk').

A quirky collection of comic and curious epitaphs.

Why do we say a person is the spitting image of someone else, or take a rain check ? These questions are rarely answered by conventional dictionaries, but this book takes a wide-ranging approach to problems of etymology, challenging a few long-held theories on the way.