'Caroline Taggart has carved out a niche for herself in user-friendly, wittily written factual books.Yorkshire Post
_______ ______________

Sunday Times best-selling author Caroline Taggart browses through thousands of years of history to shed light on why we use thewords and phrases we do. Arranged by themes including food, the household, childhood, romance and more, this intriguing book looks at theorigins of our language from theirhistorical context. For example, did you know that:

If yourest on your laurels, youre imitating a complacent Roman general?
If youeavesdrop, youre likely to get wet?
If youretaken aback, you should, strictly speaking, be a sailing ship?
If youregalvanized into action, youre behaving like Frankensteins monster?

Fromblu -blooded (an invention of aristocratic Spaniards) tolimelight (a way of lighting Victorian theatres), passing an exam withflying colours (another image from sailing ships) to winninghands down (from horse racing),Humble Pie and Cold Turkey willanswer questions you may never have thought to ask. Including why turkeys need to be cold and how pies came to be humble.