Red Herrings and White Elephants: Albert Jack

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voir des éléphants roses” (= to see pink elephants) which refers to hallucination supposedly brought by abuse of alcohol. At coffee mornings, fetes and similar events in the village where I grew up there was often white elephant stall, which had all sorts of odds and ends that people want to get rid of. The OED doesn’t mention whether albino elephants are considered sacred in Burma, but does have the story about the King of Siam giving troublesome or obnoxious courtiers the ‘gift’ of a white elephant which would ruin the recipient due the costs of maintenance.

red herring in Traditional Chinese - Cambridge Dictionary red herring in Traditional Chinese - Cambridge Dictionary

somewhere here, i believe, i saw this book/writing/words and took note. i am now tending to it and i enjoy it...a kind of look-see at idiom...so many that are nautical, which is nice. beep beep. If you happen to be a bootlegger, your profession recalls the Wild West outlaws who sold illegal alcohol by concealing slender bottles of whiskey in their boots. If you're on cloud nine, you owe a nod to the American Weather Bureau's classification of clouds, the ninth topping out all others at a mountainous 40,000 feet. A White Elephant is an expression used to describe something that has, or will, become a huge burden to those who possess it. It suggests the cost of possession could ruin a person financially. For this we travel to Thailand, in the days when it was known as Siam. According to the legend white elephants … Even as a native English speaker there are plenty of things to learn for this book and I found myself thinking "wow, I never knew that" on many occasion.

Teachers of the language, especially one teaching ESL (English as a Second Language), would benefit from the book as well. At the first sign of boredom your class shows in an English course (you should be able to notice the blank looks and nodding heads), swipe Red Herring and White Elephants out and start to ask them why certain phrases are so. This book is absolutely amazing I read it while in hospital and I cannot say how fantastic this book is and the quality of the book as well I bought this for my mum and she has really really enjoyed it. Thank you This is a British book, and so some of the phrases were unfamiliar to me. But that's a relative few. The majority are phrases within my experience. An enjoyable and interesting guide to the historic stories behind many current and recent-times sayings within the English language.

Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases

Dicey,” the story went, originated among Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots during World War II. When the weather at their home fields was too bad to permit landing when returning from a mission, they would fly north to an airfield called Dice, where the skies were almost always clear. Thus bad weather came to be known as “Dicey,” a term later expanded to describe anything risky.

If you happen to be a bootlegger, your profession recalls the Wild West outlaws who sold illegal alcohol by concealing slender bottles of whiskey in their boots. If you're on cloud nine, you owe a nod to the American Weather Bureau's classification of clouds, the ninth topping out all others at a mountainous 40, 000 feet. If you opt for the hair of the dog the morning after, you're following the advice of medieval English doctors, who recommended rubbing the hair of a dog into the wound left by the animal's bite. Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth Origin: From the Burmese belief that albino elephants are sacred. They can’t be used for work and they must be lavished with the ultimate amount of care. If the King of Siam wished to get rid of a particular courtier, he gave a gift of a white elephant. The courtier dared not offend the King with a refusal although he was fully aware that the cost of upkeep of such an animal was ruinous. biblioboy, Ebooksweb COM LLC, Phillybooks COM LLC, BookCorner COM LLC, BookCorner COM LLC, Phillybooks COM LLC, Ebooksweb COM LLC, Phillybooks COM LLC, Ebooksweb COM LLC, BookCorner COM LLC, Washburn Books, thelondonbookworm.com Dicey": From some Mr. Dicey. I doubt it. The derivation from "dice" just sounds much more plausible.

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The Origins of Nautical & Military Phrases – Kindle Edition Buy Now From the Author of the Internationally Bestselling Red Herrings & White Elephants, Pop Goes the Weasel, What Caesar did for My Salad, Shaggy Dogs, They Laughed at Galileo: Many times, during every single day, all of us will use what is known as …Aided by the alliteration in b (bold – brass), the phrase (as) bold as brass arose from a long-established figurative use of the noun brass, sometimes in association with the adjective bold. Not sure it’s what you had in mind but concerning phrases with colour adjective+animal, in French we have the following sayings and phrases:

Red Herrings And White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases Red Herrings And White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases

Red Herrings and White Elephants. The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day : - signed or inscribed book It is popularly—but erroneously—claimed that the phrase (as) bold as brass originally referred to Brass Crosby (1725-93), Lord Mayor of London. If you have even a slight interest in the history of language and phrases this book is a must read.

Starts off really well, entertaining and engaging. There are some great explanations about frequently used sayings in there. My favourites included "winning hands down" and "to be screwed." And then minutes later you will be bothering them with another gem that you just have to share. And then you interrupt them yet again with another one. Definitely a fun, interactive book. une oie blanche” (= a white goose) refers to a young woman, naive and unenlightened regarding the birds and the bees. Not a sit-down and read cover to cover but a reference to phrases. If you overheard someone say he's "Dressed to Kill", you may conjure up a Ninja preparing to assassinate a dignitary. But it means "to suggest they are smart, fashionable and set to make a romantic conquest." Now I find out about the romantic conquest. Boy, have I been missing out all these years. I think I'll refer to it more often. According to the OED however, red herrings were used to lay trails for hounds to follow, which enable the hunters to exercise their horses by following the hounds. There is apparently no evidence that false trails were laid using red herrings to distract the hounds. This was a idea that emerged during the 19th century.