Dog Days and Dandelions A Lively Guide to the Animal Meanings Behind Everyday Words

Fromapian(like a bee) tozodiac(little-animals circle), a word book that spots the animal origins of words and names There are mice in yourmuscles, and blackbirds in yourmerlot. Behind adulation is a dog's wagging tail.Peculiarhouses a herd of cattle.Grubbyis crawling with bugs. Wordhound Martha Barnette collects more than 300 common (and a few not-so-common) words that have surprising animal roots. Tracing word origins back to ancient Greek and Latin as well as to European roots and American slang, the entries offer a guided tour through literature, science, folklore, politics, and more--with a wilderness of animal meanings at every turn. Forfledglingwordsleuthsas well as those whofawnover etymologies, this is a delightful smorgasbord for writers, students, and word lovers.Barnette, Martha is the author of 'Dog Days and Dandelions A Lively Guide to the Animal Meanings Behind Everyday Words', published 2003 under ISBN 9780312280727 and ISBN 0312280726.