# Why Do We Say That? 101 Idioms, Phrases, Sayings & Facts! A Brief History On Where They Come From!

Many of the sayings we reach for without thinking have surprisingly odd beginnings. Scott Matthews collects 101 common idioms, proverbs and colloquial terms, and for each one explains how it was coined, how its use changed over the centuries and how it settled into its present sense. Each entry stands on its own, so the book works as a sequence of small discoveries about the language.

The origins range from the everyday to the strange. Raining cats and dogs is linked to the sanitary conditions of seventeenth-century London, taking something with a grain of salt to an ancient remedy for poison, and running amok to Southeast Asian warrior traditions. The entries are short and easy to dip into, and the book suits curious children and word-loving adults alike.

## Books in this series (1)

- Vol. 1 — [Why Do We Say That? 101 Idioms, Phrases, Sayings & Facts! A Brief History On Where They Come From!](https://mybookbandits.com/books/9781922531254) (ISBN 9781922531254)

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Browse this series at [MyBookBandits](https://mybookbandits.com/series/why-do-we-say-that-101-idioms-phrases-sayings-facts-a-brief-history-on-where-they-come-from).