Product Description
Oh, horsefeathers!
If you've ever wondered why the candy is called butterscotch; why a certain southern food is called a hush puppy; why tog supports in a fireplace are known as andirons, or sometimes firedogs, you'll be fascinated by the origins of the more than 600 words discussed in "a book that gets curiouser and curiouser as it goes along" (Son Francisco Chronicle).
Average Customer Review:
34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
An etymological treasure, 1998-11-25
My grandfather's favourite word was "horsefeathers," so when I found this book on a library shelf in my junior high school in the 70's, I was shocked to discover that the original meaning of horsefeathers was not "balderdash" as I had assumed, but something quite different.An online argument about the etymology of the word led to my purchase of the book from amazon.com. I highly recommend it both as a source of interesting word origins and (as it was in my case), an argument-winner.
It's a good buy. And I'm not full of horsefeathers when I say it.