Devious Derivations: Popular Misconceptions--and More than 1,000 True Origins of Common Words and Phrases

by Hugh Rawson

In this marvelously entertaining book, word maven Hugh Rawson rounds up 1,000 words and phrases whose origins are not what you might expect. Some wiseacre (the word has nothing to do with land measure) may have told you that a tip is given to a waiter "to insure promptness," or that S.O.S. stands for "Save Our Ship," or that hooker is a tribute to the character of Joseph Hooker, the Civil War general. Like hundreds of popular etymologies, these oft-repeated accounts are just too good to be true. Now Mr. Rawson punctures the myths, gives the real derivations, and along the way provides many insights into how language works.

Genres: Reference, Language, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[HopeF · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a fun walk through the tangled possible histories of some words and phrases.

[Jrobertus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this stuff. although it is not for everyone. Basically this is about the etymology of words. There are clearly lots of false stories about the origin of many popular words, and a big take home lesson here is that many are so complex that even scholars are not sure. The first written use of words is often a key, but often time words have been in use and may have mutated long before they are written down. A false interpretation of foreign words is also a common source for English. Great fun.

[josie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable for any word lover, but not a must-have. Curiously, it is a book about wrong derivations, not right ones.