Heavens to Betsy and Other Curious Sayings: Ooga, Ooga, Hooga, Booga

Reference

Funk, Charles Earle

Words, Language & Grammar

Harpercollins

He's as independent as a hog on ice!   Where did expressions like this come from anyway? Now finally we'll know what "letting the cat out of the bag" or "going on a wild-goose chase" refers to. In this fun collection of more than 400 curious expressions and sayings, Dr. Funk explains the meanings that we use in everyday speech without even thinking about it. He has traced them back through the years -- in some cases centuries -- in an effort to determine their sources, to find out what the original allusions were, or at the very least, to give us his expert opinion when facts cannot be traced.

Hog on Ice

harper bros

Why do people "take 40 winks" and not 50...or 60, or 70? Did someone literally "let the cat out of the bag" at one point in time? Has anyone actually "gone on a wild goose chase"? Find out the answers to these questions and many more in this enormous collection, comprised of four bestselling titles: A Hog on Ice, Thereby Hangs a Tale, Heavens to Betsy! and Horsefeathers and Other Curious Words. Dr. Funk, editor-in-chief of the Funk &amp; Wagnalls Standard Dictionary Series, reveals the sometimes surprising, often amusing, and always fascinating roots of more than 2,000 vernacular words and expressions. From "kangaroo court" to "one-horse town", from "face the music" to "hocus-pocus," it's an entertaining linguistic journey.

2107 Curious Word Origins, Sayings and Expressions from White Elephants to a Song & Dance

Dictionaries & Thesauruses

Galahad Books

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