Word Nerd: More than 17,000 Fascinating Facts about Words - Softcover

Dr. Barbara Ann Kipfer is the author of more than 30 books, including the bestselling 14,000 Things to Be Happy About, The Flip Dictionary, The Order of Things, and several thesauri. She is the managing editor/chief lexicographer for Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and Reference.com. She lives in Connecticut.

aardvark is from Afrikaners who called the beast an 'earth pig'; a synonym is antbear

the bowie knife got its name from Colonel Jim Bowie (1796-1836), who used this knife designed by his blacksmith brother

if your Adam's apple is larger than normal, you are cock-throppled

a Sherlock Holmes hat is a deerstalker and his coat with detachable cape is an Inverness

to escalade is to climb or get over by means of ladders

falafel comes from an Arabic word for pepper and falafels are deep-fried balls of ground chickpea, small peppers, and pickled cucumbers, served hot in pita bread

gallinippers are large mosquitoes

hoity-toity is a reduplicative phrase based on obsolete hoit 'to romp'

an idiopathy is a disease of unknown origin or one having no apparent cause

another word for twin or paired is jumelle

klatsch is from a German word meaning 'gossip'

landlubber does not mean 'land lover' but comes from Danish lobbes 'clown' as one who is inexperienced or awkward aboard a ship

mocteroof is an old term for dressing up damaged fruits and vegetables

a natkin is a disagreeable taste or smell

orc can describe any large ferocious sea creature, like a killer whale

piggesnye is an old term of endearment for one's sweetheart, literally, a darling pig's eye

quanked means overpowered by fatigue

retroussé refers to a nose turned up at the tip

Starbucks gets its name from Starbuck, the coffee-loving first mate in Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick"

the adjective form for armadillo is tolypeutine

umbra is the darkest part of a shadow

vamoose comes from Spanish vamos 'let us go'

the radio code wilco means 'will comply'

xenodochial means hospitable to strangers

Yankee probably comes from Dutch Janke a diminutive of the name Jan 'John,' that was used as a derisive nickname

a zonkey is the offspring of a zebra and donkey