Stories of Words and Phrases

From the Persian roots of 'khaki' to the Shakespearean sass behind 'crocodile tears', this book is your backstage pass to discovering the at once fascinating, strange and amusing histories of the popular words and phrases we use every day, though mostly without pausing to reflect on their etymology. Linguistic sleuth Sumanto Chattopadhyay peels back the layers of language and takes us on a rollicking ride to demystify the origins and meanings of common words and quirky idiomatic expressions that sometimes frustrate us**x2014;and get our goat**x2014;or sound Greek to us!