Word Nerd

The English language is full of beauty and surprises. If you''re a lover of the weird and wonderful, from fascinating etymology to the ten most overused and useless English phrases, this book isn''t averse to a peppering of persiflage! Did you know: - pilots and air traffic controllers at major air international airports have to speak English - the hashtag symbol is an "octothorpe" - "bumfiddle" means to spoil a piece of paper or document - the word "noon" originally meant 3pm; the literal meaning of "bamboozle" is to make a baboon out of someone. This book contains a boatload of things you didn''t know about the English language and it''s a guaranteed prolix-free zone.