Explains the origins of thousands of words, proverbs, idioms, foreign language expressions, animal and plant names, and nicknames.

Provides definitions and examples of words and phrases used in different geographical regions of the United States.

The Morrises, well-known lexicographers, published a dictionary of the same title in 1977, a revision of a three-volume work published between 1962 and 1971. This new revision, which provides histories of interesting words and phrases in the English language, is similar in concept to several books by John Ciardi. Like Ciardi's works, the etymologies and phrase origins are presented in a readable style, making them a joy to browse.

A guide to references commonly used in speech and writing. Explains more than 900 allusions. Entries include examples from todays leading media. A must for serious readers, language lovers, and ESL students.

Presents information on congenital birth defects, giving the name, known or suspect cause and brief description as well as available treatments where applicable.

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.