Product Description

How on earth did 'with bells on' come to express enthusiasm? Why is good health compared to a small stringed instrument? ('As fit as a fiddle.') And what do pickles have to do with quandaries? Let's not beat about the bush: despite the fact that we have all used these phrases at one time or another, and even enjoyed expressing them, they are in truth - when you take a moment to consider them - completely senseless and utterly fantastical. We all know what somebody means when they use these phrases due to our common knowledge of them, but it wouldn't be surprising if, when asked to explain them, you found that the cat had got your tongue, or you simply clammed up! "Spilling the Beans on the Cat's Pyjamas" provides us with the meanings to these well-worn and much-loved phrases by putting these linguistic quirks in context, and explaining how and why they were first used. Absorbing, diverting and fascinating - as far as Christmas gifts go, "Spilling the Beans" really is the bee's knees!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4032 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From the Publisher
Spilling the Beans on the Cats' Pyjamas is the new book by the top ten best-selling author of I Before E (Except After C)

About the Author
Judy Parkinson is a freelance writer who has authored numerous bestselling titles for Michael O'Mara Books.

Customer Reviews

A mixed bag
On the inside cover is printed `A gift for ... from...', suggesting that this attractively produced book, humorously illustrated by Louise Morgan, is intended to be a stocking-filler, so perhaps we shouldn't be too critical of it. The subtitle is `Popular Expressions - What They Mean and Where We Got Them'. `What They Mean' is almost always pretty obvious - otherwise they would hardly be popular. A fairly high proportion of the explanations of `Where We Got Them' will surely not needed for someone who has a reasonable acquaintance with the Bible (to cast pearls before swine), Aesop's fables (sour grapes), Greek legends (the sword of Damocles), sailing (walking the plank). However, there are certainly some entries (cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey) whose intriguing origin few people would know. As this is the third edition of a book whose earlier ones were under different titles, it has obviously been a good seller. And it is a good deal handier and more up-to-date than Brewer's massive `Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'.

A good old read...
I now have several books by Judy, this is an excellent read and the quality of the publishing is really good! Recommended!