Eggplants, Elevators, Etc PDF Download

Author: James Meyers
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780805503463
Category : Curiosities and wonders
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description

Author: Ralph Keyes
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190466766
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
"How do words get coined? That question is explored in Ralph Keyes's latest book, The Hidden History of Coined Words. Based on meticulous research, Keyes has determined that successful neologisms are as likely to be created by chance as by intention. A remarkable number of new words were coined whimsically, he's discovered, to taunt, even to prank. Knickers resulted from a hoax, big bang from an insult. Wisecracking produced software, crowdsource, and blog. More than a few neologisms weren't even coined intentionally: they resulted from happy accidents such as typos, mistranslations, and misheard words like bigly and buttonhole, or from an unintended coinage such as Isaac Asimov's robotics. Many of the word coiners Keyes writes about come from unlikely quarters. Neologizers (a Thomas Jefferson coinage) include not just learned scholars and literary lions but cartoonists, columnists, children's authors, and children as well. Wimp, Keyes tells us, originated with an early 20th century book series on The Wymps, goop from a series about The Goops, and nerd from a book by Dr. Seuss. Competing claims to have coined terms like gonzo, mojo, and booty call are assessed, as is epic battles fought between new word partisans, and those who think we have enough words already. A concluding chapter offers pointers on how to coin a word of one's own. Written in a reader-friendly manner, The Hidden History of Coined Words will appeal not just to word lovers but history buffs, trivia contesters, and anyone at all who is interested in a well-informed good read"--

Author: Andy Warner
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1250137039
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
NOW A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Hilarious, entertaining, and illustrated histories behind some of life's most common and underappreciated objects - from the paperclip and the toothbrush to the sports bra and roller skates Brief Histories of Everyday Objects is a graphic tour through the unusual creation of some of the mundane items that surround us in our daily lives. Chapters are peppered with ballpoint pen riots, cowboy wars, and really bad Victorian practical jokes. Structured around the different locations in our home and daily life—the kitchen, the bathroom, the office, and the grocery store—award-nominated illustrator Andy Warner traces the often surprising and sometimes complex histories behind the items we often take for granted. Readers learn how Velcro was created after a Swiss engineer took his dog for a walk; how a naval engineer invented the Slinky; a German housewife, the coffee filter; and a radical feminist and anti-capitalist, the game Monopoly. This is both a book of histories and a book about histories. It explores how lies become legends, trade routes spring up, and empires rise and fall—all from the perspective of your toothbrush or toilet.

Author: Ralph Keyes
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0312340052
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Discusses those "verbal fossils" that remain embedded in our national conversation long after the topic they refer to has galloped off into the sunset. Mrs. Robinson, Edsel, "Catch-22", Gangbusters, "Alphonse and Gaston", or "Where's the beef?" are just a few of the "retroterms" that can be found in this word-lover's store of trivia and obscure references.

Author: Nancy S. Hill
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 9780842361842
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
A collection of interesting and sometimes silly facts that relates to a Bible verse.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
The most trustworthy source of information available today on savings and investments, taxes, money management, home ownership and many other personal finance topics.

Author: Kirk R. Smith
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461308917
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description

Author: Gilles Messier
Publisher: XinXii
ISBN: 1989048706
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Mid-century speculative retro fiction. The Second World War. Nuclear Power. Space Exploration. These powerful forces forever changed the course of history. In these nine new stories and three essays Messier explores our intimate and often fickle relationship with science and technology in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and how it came to define our past, present and future. Science + Fiction based on 20th-century history, with 27 archival photographs.

Author: Barbara J. Higgins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description

Author: Nancy S. Hill
Publisher: Tyndale Kids
ISBN: 9780842300155
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Each of the 50 entries in this devotional contains informative and intriguing facts that not only educate but also entertain the reader.