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Red Herrings and White Elephants
by Jack, Albert
- Used
- Very Good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Very Good/Good Jacket
- ISBN 10
- 1843581299
- ISBN 13
- 9781843581291
- Seller
-
Devizes, Wiltshire, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Metro Books, London, 2004-10-08. Hardcover. Very Good/Good Jacket. 19 to 25 cm tall, Octavo, (8vo). Price clipped jacket. Posted within 1 working day. 1st class tracked post to the UK, Airmail tracked worldwide. Robust recyclable packaging.
Synopsis
Mad hatter . . . pie in the sky . . . egg on your face. We use these phrases every day, yet how many of us know what they really mean or where they came from?From bringing home the bacon to leaving no stone unturned, the English language is peppered with hundreds of common idioms borrowed from ancient traditions and civilizations throughout the world. In Red Herrings and White Elephants, Albert Jack has uncovered the amazing and sometimes downright bizarre stories behind many of our most familiar and eccentric modes of expression:If you happen to be a bootlegger, your profession recalls the Wild West outlaws who sold illegal alcohol by concealing slender bottles of whiskey in their boots. If you're on cloud nine, you owe a nod to the American Weather Bureau's classification of clouds, the ninth topping out all others at a mountainous 40,000 feet. If you opt for the hair of the dog the morning after, you're following the advice of medieval English doctors, who recommended rubbing the hair of a dog into the wound left by the animal's bite.A delightful compendium of anecdotes on everything from minding your p's and q's to pulling out all the stops, Red Herrings and White Elephants is an essential handbook for language-lovers of all ages.
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Details
- Bookseller
- M Godding Books Ltd
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 237060
- Title
- Red Herrings and White Elephants
- Author
- Jack, Albert
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Good Jacket
- Quantity Available
- 1
- ISBN 10
- 1843581299
- ISBN 13
- 9781843581291
- Publisher
- Metro Books, London
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 2004-10-08
- Size
- 19 to 25 cm tall, Octavo, (8vo)
- Bookseller catalogs
- Reference;
- X weight
- 11 oz
Terms of Sale
M Godding Books Ltd
Paypal, Credit Cards, Books ship within 24 hours of the order, either first class within the UK, or airmail worldwide. Returns accepted on items that do not, within reason, meet the description.
About the Seller
M Godding Books Ltd
Biblio member since 2006
Devizes, Wiltshire
About M Godding Books Ltd
The business trades in a variety of on-line products. Our business is currently expanding its already large collection of books, and other media. Established in 2005, the business became M Godding Ltd in April 2006. It is a family run business trading from Devizes in Wiltshire, England. It aims for satisfied customers through a friendly and efficient service. Our book shop specialises in rare, older used books including many first editions
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Price Clipped
- When a book is described as price-clipped, it indicates that the portion of the dust jacket flap that has the publisher's...
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