Abracadabra to Zombie: More Than 300 Wacky Word Origins

by Don L. Wulffson, Jared Lee (Illustrations)

From the fifty state names through the months of the year and more, this illustrated book explores the origins of both common and unusual words in the English vocabulary.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 2003

About the author

Don L. Wulffson is the author of more than forty books, including Point Blank, The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle, Future Fright, and The Upside-Down Ship. He lives in Northridge, California.

Reviews

[Kermit · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.6 stars

Really fun and so interesting. Smokey the Bear's original name was Hot Foot Teddy.

[Min · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a few books about inventions, I am happy to see the author has applied his same vigor to exploring the words of the English language, for all of their strangeness. For good measure, the author includes obscure words which are no longer, or less commonly used.
In the Introduction, the author assures us he will only include undisputed, and amusing word histories. The author also offers a reference to related words as well - that is always helpful.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fun so far. I was crushed to learn that Chuck Norris was born with a different name.

Loved it! So many interesting facts. It's a long list of interesting tidbits--no narrative--so you have to be interested in this kind of stuff. The weird origin of the Smithsonian Museum may be my favorite thing I learned. Horseradish sauce, the state names, why we say "love" in tennis. Lots of fun stuff.

[Jennifer Chapman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book of trivia is perfect for short reading sessions. I loved learning about Barbie and the origin of all the different state names. As entertaining as this book was I am now concerned about how much research was actually done in writing it. He wrote Dr. Welch of Welch's grape juice was Presbyterian which is not true, he was a Methodist.