A Browser's Dictionary A Compendium of Curious Expressions and Intriguing Facts

Fresh and clean hardcover copy in good condition with original dustjacket. Frisches und sauberes Hardcover-Exemplar in gutem Zustand mit Original-Schutzumschlag. "�This book,� the author writes, �is for browsers, for those who will be pleased to ramble beyond the standard dictionaries to a more intimate conversation with words and phrases and their origins and shifting histories. It is not possible�I will not live long enough�to treat all the words and idioms in American-English use. By limiting the number of entries, I have tried to discuss more fully those terms that are most interesting, and I have been flatly subjective in my choices. A term is interesting if it interests me, for only out of my own interest can I make these word histories interesting to a reader�and informative, and readable. This dictionary is meant for reading�not necessarily in sequence, and not at a gulp, but browsingly, to pick up, to sample, to put down, and then, I hope, to pick up again, and maybe even again. �Now and then I have had to correct some of our standard dictionaries, but never in rancor. The reader who cares to check for himself the method of my disagreement with the master tomes may browse such specimen entries (and disagreements) as cheapskate, galley west, ghetto, honeymoon, kangaroo court, lead pipe cinch, nincompoop, posh, sycophant, and Yankee." - Backflap ISBN 9780060107666