What's in a Word?: Fascinating Stories of More Than 350 Everyday Words and Phrases

Tying the knot actually involved tying a knot-not saying vows. Meanwhile, a thinking cap wasn’t just a cute idea for schoolchildren, but an actual hat worn by scholars in the Middle Ages. Oh, and when you make no bones about something, you should consider yourself lucky you aren’t choking on a chicken foot.

What’s in a Word? Answers the question it poses, more than three hundred times over. You’ll learn which side of the bed is the wrong side, and why the word “nickname” is...