

Offers information about the odd origins of such diverse words and phrases as condom, sirloin, horse latitudes, and harlot.


In this marvelously entertaining book, word maven Hugh Rawson rounds up 1,000 words and phrases whose origins are not what you might expect. Some wiseacre (the word has nothing to do with land measure) may have told you that a tip is given to a waiter "to insure promptness,"...