Red Herrings and White Elephants ~by Albert Jack with Illustrations by Ama Page

  This little book has been sitting on my shelf for the last twenty years and I still have not grown tired of its many fascinating and colourful explanations on the origins of words, and idioms in the English language. In my pre-smartphone, pre-instagram world, this chunky hardback was my go-to while sitting in a dentist’s waiting room or between baby feeds. It never failed to amaze me and would send me running off to share what delicious titbit of etymology I had found.  It today’s Instagram world I would no doubt like and share these little historical gems, to amaze and beguile my children, now grown with smartphones of their own.  Here is just one little example from the book:

    ‘A Deadline… originally was a white line painted at a … prisoner of war camp during the American Civil War… any prisoner crossing white line was shot dead… Since then the phrase was applied to newspaper writers… If they missed the deadline of their story it was considered dead as it would be out of date by the following day’s print run.’ (Apologies for the crude eclipses.). See?  Don’t you want to immediately share that history with the person next to you?  I just did - and he said, ‘Every day is a school day!’  He is not wrong.  You may be lucky enough to have this precious book in your collection already, or you may still be able to get it online somewhere.  It is a great conversation starter, if you want to like and share old school - or, like me, you are partial to a bit of both.   So, if you have ever wondered where the phrases, ‘Raining Cats and Dogs’, or ‘Codswallop’ come from - pick up a copy of this delightful book when you can.