the sources of some phrases....

Tue Apr 4 20:39:05 UTC 2000

Larry asks

<< can anyone point us to a REPUTABLE dictionary of phrase origins >>

Well, there were four books by Charles Earle Funk, written in the 1940s and
1950s and accurate for the state of knowledge at that time. They are
collected in

2107 Curious Word Origins, Sayings & Expressions from White Elephants to Song
and Dance (Ingram, 1993), available in hardcover from Amazon for $17.

- Allan Metcalf