Wellingtons, Watts & Windsor Knots (The Artful Wordsmith Series)

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	Wellingtons, Watts & Windsor Knots (The Artful Wordsmith Series)
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Description:

This amusing volume divulges the history behind people and items who take their names from historic, fictional, or mythic figures. While some are fairly straightforward (Dewey decimal system, Oedipus complex, Uncle Tom), there are plenty of tidbits to interest the amateur lexicologist. The word boycott, for instance, derives from a 19th-century tenant-farmers' protest in County Mayo, Ireland, against British Army captain Charles Cunningham Boycott's refusal to lower their rent. The first Ferris wheel was designed and built by Illinois engineer George Washington Gale Ferris in the late 1800s. And, earlier that century, Australian granny Maria Ann Smith is said to have discovered the first Granny Smith apple sapling.