A little guide to auld Scottish grannies' methods of looking after the family in times of illness. Often quirky, frequently unpleasant, the remedies used in times gone by included not consuming water if you were ill and asking a man on a white horse for a recommendation for a whooping cough cure.

Long before modern medicines became so widely available, families treated everyday illnesses with home-made remedies. Reused and refined year after year, they were handed down through the generations then lovingly copied into personal 'receipt' books. Grandma's Remedies brings together a beguiling collection of them, gathered from dusty medicine chests found in attics, recalled from childhoods long past, or discovered in family archives and libraries. Many of them are surprisingly effective. Did you know, for example, that drinking two cups of strong black coffee will alleviate an asthma attack? Or that chewing toasted fennel seeds will help combat indigestion? Or that rosehip syrup is a terrific source of vitamin C? But Grandma's Remedies is more than a guide to these traditional treatments, it also paints a vivid portrait of the world of our grandparents and great-grandparents. It shows how inventive and resourceful they were with the materials near to hand, how they made the most of everything in the store-cupboard, from bread through to vinegar, and how it was the women of the household who, despite being barred from the medical profession, were relied on to safeguard family health. In these days of antibiotics and painkillers, it's easy to forget how people survived when all they had to rely on was a garden, a larder and a healthy dose of common sense.

Scotland has had its fair share of comedians, both professional and self-styled, but the wit of Scotland is not traditionally of the ha-ha, belly-laugh variety. It's rather of the understated, wry-smile type, known in Scotland as 'pawkie' humour. The Concise Scots Dictionary defines 'pawkie' as having a matter-of-fact, humorously critical outlook on life, characterized by a sly, quiet wit and this sums it up very well. Alas, this dry stryle of humour has the disadvantage that, unlike the obvious joke, it can go unnoticed. It's partly for this reason that the Scots have acquired a reputation for being dour or humourless, but often the fault has been with the hearers not recognizing wit when it was presented to them. There is less need to explain the wisdom of the Scots, since Scotland, especially considering its size, has produced over the centuries a great number of people who have made a significant contribution to the shaping of the world. These have included people from a wide range of disciplines, such as poets, philosophers, novelists, artists, architects, engineers, explorers, doctors, scientists and so on, and the thoughts of some of these are included in the selection of sayings and quotations in this book.

In the literature on English lexicography there have been few attempts at a systematic study of the history of popular dictionaries that have been around for many years in English-speaking countries. A dictionary like Chambers deserves special attention because of its long tradition that goes back to the nineteenth century. Although it has gone through numerous editions, its history has received little attention from scholars. The book traces the development of the Chambers Dictionary from its origins to the present time by comparing corresponding parts of successive editions of the dictionary. This comparative approach aims to determine major trends in the evolution of the dictionary. It will provide scholars and interested students with insights into the Chambers lexicographers’ work, the goals they aimed to achieve, and the problems they had to face when revising the dictionary.

This is a compilation of the most annoying English cliches around today; those expressions that you hear time and time again and that make you cringe with irritation when you do hear them, but which - even more annoyingly! - you find yourself using out of sheer habit.Examples featured include: by and large, to be honest, a categorical denial, courtesy call, these things happen, kill two birds with one stone, it's not the end of the world... and many more.

Here's a unique collection of wisdom, recipes and household lore from the 1880's. Good old-fashioned advice covers a wide range of topics, from forecasting weather and curing illnesses to making soap, distilling whiskey and fixing what's broken. A treasure. B&W line drawings throughout.

Ever wondered what some of the weirdest productions of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe have been? Has it crossed your mind that you don't actually know which Scottish city has the honour of being twinned with the Russian town of Piskov (mind you don't drop that , now)? If so, then this is the book for you. Crammed fuller than a haggis, Jim Hewiston's Scottish Miscellany is jam-packed with lists, tables, top tens, recipes and bizarre phenomena relating to oor braw wee country. But there's more! Did you know, for example, that our ludicrous saying 'A midge is as big as a mountain, amaist' is possibly outdone in terms of ridiculousness by Bulgaria's 'Dry pants catch no fish'?