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Haggard Hawks and Paltry Poltroons

Author : Paul Anthony Jones

Publisher : Constable

Page : 209 pages

File Size : 48,2 MB

Release : 2013-10-17

Category : Humor

ISBN : 1472109414

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Book Description

What do the following ten words all have in common - haggard, mews, codger, arouse, musket, poltroon, gorge, allure, pounce and turn-tail? All fairly familiar and straightforward words, after a little digging into their histories it turns out that all of them derive from falconry: the adjective haggard described an adult falcon captured from the wild; mews were the enclosures hawks were kept in whilst moulting; codger is thought to come from 'cadger', the member of a hunting party who carried the birds' perches, and so on. This, essentially, is what Ten Words is all about - the book collects together hundreds of the most intriguing, surprising and little known histories and etymologies of a whole host of English words. From ancient place names to unusual languages, and obscure professions to military slang, this is a fascinating treasure trove of linguistic facts.



Haggard Hawks and Paltry Poltroons

Author : Paul Anthony Jones

Publisher : Hachette UK

Page : 209 pages

File Size : 14,80 MB

Release : 2013-10-17

Category : Humor

ISBN : 1472109414

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Book Description

What do the following ten words all have in common - haggard, mews, codger, arouse, musket, poltroon, gorge, allure, pounce and turn-tail? All fairly familiar and straightforward words, after a little digging into their histories it turns out that all of them derive from falconry: the adjective haggard described an adult falcon captured from the wild; mews were the enclosures hawks were kept in whilst moulting; codger is thought to come from 'cadger', the member of a hunting party who carried the birds' perches, and so on. This, essentially, is what Ten Words is all about - the book collects together hundreds of the most intriguing, surprising and little known histories and etymologies of a whole host of English words. From ancient place names to unusual languages, and obscure professions to military slang, this is a fascinating treasure trove of linguistic facts.



Branding Yourself

Author : Erik Deckers

Publisher : Que Publishing

Page : 495 pages

File Size : 36,27 MB

Release : 2017-10-09

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 0134834895

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Book Description

Want a new job or career? Need to demonstrate more value to customers or employers? Use today’s hottest social media platforms to build the powerful personal brand that gets you what you want! In this completely updated book, Erik Deckers and Kyle Lacy help you use social media to and networking to advance your career, grow your business, and land new job opportunities. From LinkedIn to Facebook, now including Instagram and SnapChat, this book is packed with new techniques and ideas that are practical, easy, and effective. Deckers and Lacy show you how to supercharge all your business and personal relationships...demonstrate that you are the best solution to employers’ or partners’ toughest problems...become a recognized thought leader...and turn your online network into outstanding jobs, great projects, and a fulfilling, profitable career! Discover how to: Choose today’s best social media tools for your personal goals Build an authentic storyline and online identity that gets you the right opportunities Make the most of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter–and leverage new platforms like Snapchat and Instagram Build connections and prove expertise by sharing video on YouTube and Vimeo Find yourself on search engines and then optimize your personal online presence Promote your events, accomplishments, victories...and even defeats and lessons learned Integrate online and offline networking to get more from both Reach people with hiring authority and budgets on LinkedIn Use Twitter to share the ideas and passions that make you uniquely valuable Avoid “killer” social networking mistakes Leverage your online expert status to become a published author or public speaker Measure the success of your social media branding Get new projects or jobs through your online friends and followers



Word Drops

Author : Paul Anthony Jones

Publisher : University of New Mexico Press

Page : 216 pages

File Size : 21,8 MB

Release : 2016

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 0826356567

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Book Description

From aardvark to zenzizenzizenzic, Word Drops collects a thousand obscure words and language facts in one fascinating chain of word associations. Did you know, for example, that scandal derives from the Latin for "stumbling block" and originally described a trap for a wild animal? In nineteenth-century slang a wolf trap was a corrupt casino. Casino means "little house" in Italian. Roulette means "little wheel" in French. A wheeler is someone who attends auctions to bid on items merely to increase their sale price. Such links take readers on an unexpected journey through linguistic oddities. Inspired by the popular @HaggardHawks Twitter account, Word Drops also uses an intriguing series of annotations to add background and historical context on everything from Anglo-Saxon cures for insanity to Samuel Pepys's cure for a hangover. This unique book will delight anyone who loves language, etymology, and word games. Not for sale in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, or Canada



The Hidden History of Coined Words

Author : Ralph Keyes

Publisher : Oxford University Press

Page : 320 pages

File Size : 18,37 MB

Release : 2021-02-19

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 0190466774

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Book Description

Successful word-coinages--those that stay in currency for a good long time--tend to conceal their beginnings. We take them at face value and rarely when and where they were first minted. Engaging, illuminating, and authoritative, Ralph Keyes's The Hidden History of Coined Words explores the etymological underworld of terms and expressions and uncovers plenty of hidden gems. He also finds some fascinating patterns, such as that successful neologisms are as likely to be created by chance as by design. A remarkable number of new words were coined whimsically, originally intended to troll or taunt. Knickers, for example, resulted from a hoax; big bang from an insult. Casual wisecracking produced software, crowdsource, and blog. More than a few resulted from happy accidents, such as typos, mistranslations, and mishearing (bigly and buttonhole), or from being taken entirely out of context (robotics). Neologizers (a Thomas Jefferson coinage) include not just scholars and writers but cartoonists, columnists, children's book authors. Wimp originated with a book series, as did goop, and nerd from a book by Dr. Seuss. Coinages are often contested, controversy swirling around such terms as gonzo, mojo, and booty call. Keyes considers all contenders, while also leading us through the fray between new word partisans, and those who resist them strenuously. He concludes with advice about how to make your own successful coinage. The Hidden History of Coined Words will appeal not just to word mavens but history buffs, trivia contesters, and anyone who loves the immersive power of language.



Jedburgh Justice and Kentish Fire

Author : Paul Anthony Jones

Publisher : Constable

Page : 281 pages

File Size : 28,62 MB

Release : 2014-10-16

Category : Humor

ISBN : 1472116224

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Book Description

Did you know that Jedburgh Justice is ‘executing someone first, then giving them a trial’? Or that Kentish Fire is ‘applauding sarcastically to silence your opponents’? From the author of Haggard Hawks and Paltry Poltroons, this is a fascinating collection of curious phrases and expressions from the English language, together with the stories of their etymology and anecdotes about their use in history. Where Haggard Hawks focused on lists of ten words of a particular kind, this collection instead focuses on lists phrases and expressions, also arranged by their quirky and specific origins. The contents will include: 10 PHRASES DERIVED FROM PLACES IN BRITAIN (Jedburgh justice, Kentish fire, Scarborough warning...) 10 PHRASES DERIVED FROM PLACES IN LONDON (A draught on the pump at Aldgate, Kent Street ejectment...) 10 PHRASES DERIVED FROM PLACES IN AMERICA (Hollywood yes, Michigan bankroll, Chicago Overcoat...) 10 LATIN PHRASES USED IN ENGLISH (Quid pro quo, nunc est bibendum...) 10 FRENCH PHRASES USED IN ENGLISH (La vie en rose, C’est la guerre, Revenons à nos moutons...) 10 SHAKESPEAREAN EXPRESSIONS (Gild the lily, Salad days, All that glitters is not gold...) 10 LITERARY EXPRESSIONS (A thing of beauty is a joy forever, Abandon hope all ye who enter here...) 10 PHRASES FROM COMICS & CARTOONS (Keep up with the Joneses, Mutt and Jeff...) 10 PHRASES FROM SONGS (Miss Otis regrets, The birds and the bees, Potato po-tah-to...) 10 WAYS OF SAYING ‘WOW’ (Great Scott, My stars, Mamma mia...)



Home Learning Year by Year, Revised and Updated

Author : Rebecca Rupp

Publisher : Crown

Page : 578 pages

File Size : 37,95 MB

Release : 2020-01-21

Category : Education

ISBN : 0525576967

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Book Description

A comprehensive guide to designing homeschool curriculum, from one of the country’s foremost homeschooling experts—now revised and updated! Homeschooling can be a tremendous gift to your children—a personalized educational experience tailored to each kid’s interests, abilities, and learning styles. But what to teach, and when, and how? Especially for first-time homeschoolers, the prospect of tackling an annual curriculum can be daunting. In Home Learning Year by Year, Rebecca Rupp presents comprehensive plans from preschool through high school, covering integral subjects for each grade, with lists of topics commonly presented at each level, recommended resource and reading lists, and suggestions for creative alternative options and approaches. Included, along with all the educational basics, are techniques and resources for teaching everything from philosophy to engineering, as well as suggestions for dealing with such sensitive topics as sex education. Now revised throughout with all-new updates featuring the most effective and up-to-date methods and reading guides to homeschool your child at all ages, Home Learning Year by Year continues to be the definitive book for the homeschooling parent.



The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities

Author : Paul Anthony Jones

Publisher : University of Chicago Press

Page : 385 pages

File Size : 49,80 MB

Release : 2019-10-14

Category : Reference

ISBN : 022664670X

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Book Description

Open The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities and you’ll find both a word and a day to remember, every day of the year. Each day has its own dedicated entry, on which a curious or notable event—and an equally curious or notable word—are explored. On the day on which flirting was banned in New York City, for instance, you’ll discover why to “sheep’s-eye” someone once meant to look at them amorously. On the day on which a disillusioned San Franciscan declared himself Emperor of the United States, you’ll find the word “mamamouchi,” a term for people who consider themselves more important than they truly are. And on the day on which George Frideric Handel completed his 259-page Messiah after twenty-four days of frenzied work, you’ll see why a French loanword, literally meaning “a small wooden barrow,” is used to refer to an intense period of work undertaken to meet a deadline. The English language is vast enough to supply us with a word for every occasion—and this linguistic “wunderkammer” is here to prove precisely that. So whatever date this book has found its way into your hands, there’s an entire year’s worth of linguistic curiosities waiting to be found.



Around the World in 80 Words

Author : Paul Anthony Jones

Publisher : University of Chicago Press

Page : 286 pages

File Size : 36,79 MB

Release : 2020-09-01

Category : History

ISBN : 022668279X

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Book Description

What makes a place so memorable that it survives forever in a word? In this captivating round-the-world tour, Paul Anthony Jones acts as your guide through the intriguing stories of how eighty places became immortalized in the English language. You’ll discover why the origins of turkeys, limericks, Brazil nuts, and Panama hats aren’t quite as straightforward as you might presume. If you’ve never heard of the tiny Czech mining town of Jáchymov—or Joachimsthal, as it was known until the late 1800s—you’re not alone, which makes its claim to fame as the origin of the word “dollar” all the more extraordinary. The story of how the Great Dane isn’t all that Danish makes the list, as does the Jordanian mountain whose name has become a byword for a tantalizing glimpse. We’ll also find out what the Philippines has given to your office inbox, what Alaska has given to your liquor cabinet, and how a speech given by a bumbling North Carolinian gave us a word for impenetrable nonsense. Surprising, entertaining, and illuminating, this is essential reading for armchair travelers and word nerds. Our dictionaries are full of hidden histories, tales, and adventures from all over the world—if you know where to look.



The Accidental Dictionary

Author : Paul Anthony Jones

Publisher :

Page : 224 pages

File Size : 19,2 MB

Release : 2019-06-13

Category : English language

ISBN : 9781783964383

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Book Description

Brimming with hidden histories and tantalising twists, The Accidental Dictionary tells the extraordinary stories behind ordinary words. Our everyday language is full of surprises; its origins are stranger than you might think. Any word might be knocked and buffeted, subjected to twists and turns, expansions and contractions, happy and unhappy accidents. There are intriguing tales behind even the most familiar terms, and they can say as much about the present as they do the past. Busking, for instance, originally meant piracy. Grin meant to snarl. A bimbo was a man, nice meant ignorant, glamour was magic and a cupboard was a table... Focusing on 100 surprising threads in the evolution of English, The Accidental Dictionary reveals the etymological origins and quirky developments that have led to the meanings we take for granted today. It is a weird and wonderful journey into words. "A real delight ... hidden gems nestle on every page" -- JaffaReadsToo "The Accidental Dictionary is certainly worth adding [to a bookshelf]... I knew very few of these, which is a good thing, and now I know more, which is a better one" -- Marcus Berkmann, Spectator Christmas books 2016