Cassell Dictionary of Catchphrases (Language reference) [Jun 29, 1995] Rees, Nigel

This wide-ranging A-Z guide to over 1,200 popular expressions uncovers amusing origins of both traditional and modern sayings. "A picture is worth a thousand words" is historically believed to be a Chinese proverb. In reality, it appeared in the Printer's Ink paper in 1927, where the real author credited a Chinese source "so that people would take it more seriously." Did you know that a Listerine Mouthwash commercial is to be thanked for the phrase "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride?" So go ahead, "Eat your heart out." After all, "You ain't seen nothin' yet!" 240 pages, 5 X 7 3/4.

YA-An informative guide to over 1200 popular expressions from all over the English-speaking world. "Calling all cars," "A funny thing happened to me on the way...," "Is everybody happy?," "no comment," and other well-known phrases are collected here. A boon for projects on the origins of words and for ESL students.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

People who watch Britcoms or mysteries that have migrated to PBS have heard such phrases as "light the blue touch paper and retire immediately" or "over the moon." This book will tell readers what these and many others mean. Rees is a BBC broadcaster and compiler of Brewer's Quotations [RBB Ja 1 & 15 96]. This book is strong on phrases originating in Britain and the Commonwealth and somewhat weaker on U.S. phrases. Media transplants like "mother of all . . ." and "Play it again, Sam" are better described than "give it your best shot."

There are no see or see also references, but if a phrase referred to in an entry has a separate entry, it is given in boldface. The writing is brisk and very readable, in a style similar to Paul Dickson's The Official Rules. Sources for phrases are given, but the citations are not always complete. Newspaper and magazine citations have dates but no page numbers. Books have only publication dates. There is no separate bibliography, which makes the work unsuitable for scholarly reference. While this is not an essential purchase, at $21.95 it will be a useful addition to a ready-reference or browsing collection in medium-size to large public libraries.