This is a great addition to any word-lover's library. Quinion examines strange American, British, and Australian words and phrases and explains the history behind them, including folk etymoly and false origins of phrases. He presents as many exmplanations for each word as he can find and the evidence to disavow most of them. He is quite content to suggest when evidence is too sparse to give a definitive answer, though sometimes he gives his best guess. Not particularly well documented, but good cross-referencing and entertaining discussions of the words. Not a book I'd recommend reading all the way through, but a good one to read over a number of months-one or two words at a time. ( )