Book Rewiew: Why You Say It by Webb Garrison

Do you like trivia? Wonder about the roots of some of our unique American sayings? Well Thomas Nelson sent me a great book that can dispel some myths and make you wonder about some others!

Synopisis: Why You Say It explores the history of these and over six hundred other common and uncommon phrases in an intriguing and entertaining way. With delightful insight into how our language grows and changes Why You Say It is intellectually stimulating and easy to read.

Review: This is an unique book in that it does focus on alot of American phrases. I can see where this book could be useful for book reports, term papers, or just little bon mots to throw into conversation at the water cooler! It definitely would be a plus if you were studying to be on Jeopardy! But for anyone on your gift list who is a self-avowed word-ologist (aka Etymology).

Here's some examples you may be wondering about:
1. BLUE JEANS- while Levis might come to mind, denim was actually in production long before the mining strike in 1842 in California! the heavy twilled cotton can be traced back to Janua (modern day Genoa) in the 1400s! The fabric was called jean after its land of origin! King Henry VIII bought 262 bolts of it to make into pants as he had discovered that the pants didn't wear out easily! The fabric was undyed until one day some Genoans decided to add some blue dye. A new trend was born and blue jeans became common!

2. CRAWFISH- now you know there are TWO definitions here- the animal and the action kind- this is for the VERB! Back in Andrew Jackson's day crawfish were plenty, but were seen as bait and only to be eaten when other food was scarce (gee how times change, huh? Those little suckers are just under $3 a lb right now!) Anyone who has seen a crawfish move in the wild knows that they swim BACKWARDS. Well, that ol' Tennessee/frontier humor of the period decided that if you backed out of a promise, you were acting like that weird bait critter and thus were a crawfish!

3. SECURITY BLANKET- this is a weird one that really made me say HUH! While mothers for generations new that toddlers felt more secure with their favorite blankets, the phrase was NOT common usage until the advent of the Peanuts comic scrip. That's right, you can chalk this one up to Charles Schultz and modern entertainment! Linus' security blanket was a feature of the strip and the term became common usage!


See? Interesting stuff! this is definitely one you want to check out!

Disclosure: This book was sent to me free of charge, for review purposes, by Thomas Nelson Publishing. I was not told how to review it however.