This new paperback edition of the Oxford School Dictionary of Word Origins gives an engaging insight into the origins of the everyday language we use. It provides additional language support and information through funny and absorbing word histories, feature entries on especially curious, 'yucky', and 'mind-boggling' words, and a full thematic section on words from the worlds of food, fashion, dinosaur names, invented and onomatopoeic words and much more. John Ayto, top word expert, entertains all ages from eight to eighty with this informative and humorous dictionary and language reference tool.

Drawing on the unique resources of the Oxford English Dictionary and offering coverage of over 6,000 slang words and expressions from the Cockney 'abaht' to the American term 'zowie', this is the most authoritative dictionary of slang from the 20th and 21st centuries. Stone the Crows: Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang is a fascinating and entertaining collection, packed with illustrative quotations and providing full details of origins and dates of first printed use. The text contains expressions from around the English-speaking world such as 'dork' and 'cockamamie' (North America) and 'giggle-house' and 'Jimmy Woodser' (Australia). As well as the A-Z listing of terms, the book contains a comprehensive thematic index, enabling users to home in on particular areas of interest, such as the body, food and drink, and human behaviour. Full of surprises, Stone the Crows is an essential read for word lovers and anyone with an interest in language.

- Highly readable. Lively and informed collection of rhyming slang — Arranged in 27 topics, including clothing, food and drink, sex, animals, and illness, to provide a coherent picture of the development and range of rhyming slang as applied to all areas of life — Charts the 150 year history of rhyming slang from its origins in 19th century cockney rhyming slang to modern popney rhyming slang — Full of exquisite detail and hundreds of illustrative examples complete with informed commentary — Written by a highly regarded linguistic, author of the popular Oxford Dictionary of Slang and Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang A lively, authoritative, and up-to-date look at the world of rhyming slang, from its origins in London's 19th-century underworld to the buzzwords of 21st-century popney. Arranged by topic, including Crime , Food and Drink , Illness , Money , Sex , and Sport , this highly readable collection is at once an informative source to the story behind some of our most lively expressions and a browser's delight.