Just released today, I Love It When You Talk Retro: Hoochie Coochie, Double Whammy, Drop a Dime, and the Forgotten Origins of American Speech, extensively cites Mystic Seaport’s Origins of Sea Terms. Who knew that sea slag would be retro! This new book explores popular terms such as “cut and run” which evolved from the …
What's the Scuttlebutt? … And Other Slang Terms Decoded
New York Post April 12, 2009
Say what? Here's some help with the what — and the who
Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch By Jann Malone Read a reference book from cover to cover? That sounds like something only someone with nothing better to read would do. But I bet if you pick up a copy of Ralph Keyes’ “The Quote Verifier: Who Said What, Where, and When” (387 pages, St. Martin’s Griffin, $15.95), you’ll …
Yellow Springs News (Ohio)
Ralph Keyes is known as a writer’s writer. He earned that distinction by writing well on a variety of topics over a long period of time, sometimes directly for writers, and other times on the origins of modern American expression. His list of over a dozen books includes such titles as The Writer’s Book of …
Moncrieff
Ralph’s interview with radio host Sean Moncrieff of Dublin, Ireland can be heard by clicking here: Euphemisms
Asbury Park Press (NJ)
FIRST READ Once upon a time, there was a body part we couldn’t mention. Instead, we used words such as dagger, lance, stake and sword. There were other make-nice substitutes (which we also can’t print here), but it all comes down to our trying to make the unmentionable mentionable. Even when it’s done with a …