Casual Lex: An Informal Assemblage of Why We Say What We Say [Paperback]

Are you a lover of language?

Awaken your passion for words, and savor the sheer deliciousness of the things people say!

Casual Lexholds the hidden pleasures found in our usage of words. This fresh edition of the classicWhy You Say Itwill turn you on to the fascinating?and often surprising?stories behind everyday words and phrases. ExperienceCasual Lexand discover:

• The phrasehell on wheelscomes from the early American practice of renting railway flatcars to create rolling casinos and brothels bound for the Wild West.
• Gibberishwas the word coined by English villagers to describe the hard-to-understand dialects of certain bands of Gypsies.
• Gymnasiumcomes from the Greek wordgymnos, which means naked ?Greek athletes trained and competed in the nude.

If your joy of language has been aroused, then many more surprises await you. After all, even the most formal users of our language can benefit from a littleCasualLex.

Are you a lover of language?

Awaken your passion for words, and savor the sheer deliciousness of the things people say!

Casual Lexholds the hidden pleasures found in our usage of words. This fresh edition of the classicWhy You Say Itwill turn you on to the fascinating?and often surprising?stories behind everyday words and phrases. ExperienceCasual Lexand discover:

• The phrasehell on wheelscomes from the early American practice of renting railway flatcars to create rolling casinos and brothels bound for the Wild West.
• Gibberishwas the word coined by English villagers to describe the hard-to-understand dialects of certain bands of Gypsies.
• Gymnasiumcomes fromlc8