Bees' Knees and Barmy Armies : Origins of the Words and Phrases We Use Every Day (Paperback)

Why do we call the best of something 'the bees' knees'? Where did the term 'barmy army' come from? Which 'colours' do we 'nail to the mast'? How are we ever 'dressed to the nines'? Why do we refer to New York as 'The Big Apple'? There are hundreds of phrases that we use on a daily basis without having a clue about where most of them come from. This book is nothing short of a fascinating ride around the greatest language in the world. So stop getting up to skullduggery, take a pew and have a butcher's at this little tome. Learn about your language in one fell swoop and make sure you never get caught red handed using words you don't understand to bark up the wrong tree! This book really is the cat's whiskers. Once you've read one entry, you'll want to read them all!