Why read Jumping Sharks and Dropping Mics?

Book cover of Jumping Sharks and Dropping Mics: Modern Idioms and Where They Come from

Book description

Gareth Carrol presents a collection of "modern idioms", which have become a part of our vocabulary in the past 50 years or so. In most cases, idioms such as "raining cats and dogs", that colour our everyday communication, are deeply rooted in culture and history. However, just like words, new…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Jumping Sharks and Dropping Mics as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

David Crystal

Author

People have always been fascinated by well-established idioms, especially when their original meaning is obscure, such as "raining cats and dogs" and "kick the bucket." But new idioms continue to emerge, fuelled especially by films, television, and the internet, and this book brings together, for the first time, idioms that have arrived in the past fifty years or so. Not rocket science? Catch 22? Move the goalposts? And another sixty or so. Far more than I thought.

From David's list on words and their history.