Description
This entertaining book looks at words which have vanished from current English and offers fascinating insights into the lives and beliefs of the past from an unexpected angle. Each chapter looks at how the words we no longer use reflect how life has changed in that area, from food we no longer eat to clothes we no longer wear.
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When did you last hear someone refer to the wireless? Do you know the origin of the expression tin-horn gambler? Language is always changing, and in Gallimaufry, Michael Quinion has gathered together hundreds of fascinating examples of words and meanings which have vanished from our language. Sometimes a word is lost when the thing it describes becomes obsolete, sometimes it survives in a figurative sense while the original meaning is lost, and sometimes it simply gives way to a more popular alternative. We discover that scuttlebutt was the name of a water cask on a ship, around which sailors might gossip. The popular hat Fedora got its name from a character in a French play (Fedora Romanov, played by Sarah Bernhardt). With over a thousand curious words grouped under such headings as Food and Drink, Health and Medicine, and Entertainment and Leisure, and an index of featured words, this book is perfect for anyone intrigued with the history of the English language.
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