Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #83987 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-05
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Synopsis
The English language is crammed with colourful phrases and sayings that we use without thinking every day. It's only when we're asked who smart Alec or Holy Moly were, where feeling in the pink or once in a blue moon come from, or even what letting the cat out of the bag really means that we realize that there's far more to English than we might have thought. Luckily enough, we now have Albert Jack. And rather than resting on his laurels after the enormous success of Red Herrings and White Elephants, he has continued his search around the world, exploring the origins of hundreds more phrases. The fascinating stories he has uncovered come from the rich traditions of the navy, army and law to confidence tricksters and highwaymen, from the practices of ancient civilizations to Music Hall and pubs. Determined to chase each shaggy dog story to the bitter end, his discoveries are even stranger and more memorable this time round. "Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheep" is a compulsively readable, highly enlightening look at the phrases we use all the time but rarely consider. From the skin of your teeth to the graveyard shift you'll never speak (or even think) English in the same way again.

From the Inside Flap
Where is the last chance saloon?
Who was Gordon Bennett?
Why isn't red tape black?
Why do we have a hunch, get the cold shoulder or laugh like a drain?
Why do we say skinflint, dressed up to the nines and out of the blue - and, of course, shaggy dog stories and black sheep?

We use these phrases every day and yet have little or no idea where many of them come from. Here, Albert Jack, author of the bestselling Red Herrings and White Elephants, takes us on another rollercoaster ride through the fascinating origins of hundreds of our favourite expressions (and comes up trumps).

About the Author
Passionate about words and the bizarre stories behind them, Albert Jack nailed his colours to the mast with Red Herrings and White Elephants. The book was an instant hit and was on the bestseller list for over six months, selling in excess of 160,000 copies in hardback. It was serialized over three months in the Sunday Times and Albert became the resident language expert on ITV's This Morning programme. This is the much-requested sequel and it really is the bee's knees. Accept no imitations.

Like many of his readers, Albert Jack now divides his time between Guildford and Botswana. He is forty years old and has two children, neither of whom has ever asked him what's so nad about the Abominable Snowman.

Customer Reviews

A FANTASTIC FOLLOW-UP
RED HERRINGS was my favourite book of last year and now (just as my friends were breathing a sigh of relief that I had stopped dragging every conversation round to the weird and wonderful origins of the words we use every day) here comes the sequel and it's even better. Did you know, for instance, that 'buttering someone up' comes from the ancient Hindu custom of throwing globs of clarified butter at the statues of gods; that 'nailing your colours to the mast' came from captains, thinking that they were unlikely to win a sea battle, nailing their flag to the mast so their more cowardly crew couldn't winch it down and surrender; that saying something has 'got legs' comes from wine tasting -- and there's hundreds more stories where those came from... I can't imagine anyone not loving this book.