Port Out Starboard Home – Michael Quinion

This is an entertaining debunking of all those ropy word or phrase origin stories that you’ll have received by email over the years. Some came as a surprise – I really did think that the “posh” story was true – and some, like “pommie”, I already knew. A good rule of thumb (a phrase discussed herein) is that anything explained by an acronym is unlikely if it dated from before WW2.

Many of the entries have the format (a) describe meaning of word/phrase, (b) outline erroneous stories, (c) explain why they’re wrong, (d) admit that the true origin is lost in the mists. It gets a little repetitive, but this ideal as a toilet book should you spot it in Oxfam. It’s always nice to come out smarter than when you went in.