Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Oxford University Press (2008), Edition: 1, 240 pages
Description
"Word Myths takes on linguistic urban legends, not just debunking them, but also examining why they are told and what they tell us about ourselves. The book examines the patterns and comes to conclusions about such things as why we attach morbid tales to children's rhymes, why newspapers keep promulgating false origins for terms like the Windy City, or why so many words have false nautical origins."--Jacket.
User reviews
LibraryThing member rampaginglibrarian
Urban legends for the entymologist. In some ways its kind of depressing to learn that those cute little stories you always heard were false but you get to learn new ones.
LibraryThing member kaelirenee
This book aims to examine urban myths surrounding word origins, phrases, and commonly held misperceptions about words. Included: how many words for snow to Eskimos really have, "OK," and whether or not picnics are racist. Wilton does an excellent job of presenting the stories and why the stories
Entertaining read for armchair linguists.
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started, and then ripping the stories to shreds. He also includes his research methods, which is a nice addition. Unlike most books like this, the words and phrases are organized based on a theme, not in alphabetical order. Entertaining read for armchair linguists.
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LibraryThing member aulsmith
This book discusses urban myths about English word etymologies. While entertaining, I found , even for the urban legends I would have never believed, the legend so much more interesting than the actual etymology that I was worried I wouldn't remember the actual origin of the word. I guess that's
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what makes them spread so well even though untrue. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2004-10
ISBN
0195375572 / 9780195375572
Local notes
SS