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Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends
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| Author |
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David Wilton. |
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| Publisher |
Oxford/QPB |
| Format |
paperback
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| ISBN |
0739455931 |
| Pages/Publication Date |
221/2004 |
| Daedalus Item Code |
81630 |
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| Description |
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Were you ever told that "Ring Around the Rosie" is about the Black Death of the Middle Ages? Or that the "whole nine yards" refers to the length of a machine gun ammo belt on a World War II fighter plane? Or that Eskimos have dozens or even hundreds of words for snow? Verbal debunker David Wilton is here to tell you that you have been taken in by a "linguistic urban legend." As popular and pervasive as their folktale counterparts, linguistic legends spread stories and "facts" about language and words. They are usually false—as Wilton explains in dozens of examples from "OK" to a certain four-letter word Norman Mailer spelled as "fug"—but they often contain elements of truth that reflect on us and our society.
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