num_pages: 274
description: Have any idea where the word "nerd" came from, or "twerp"? This dictionary starts where ordinary references beg off. Discover that bad hair day was originated by California teenagers in the early 1990s. Learn that bikini comes from the name of a Pacific island used in the 1940s for atomic bomb tests. Learn why a flight data recorder is called a black box--even though it's orange.
language: English
title: Cassell's Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins
titlecomplete: Cassell's Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins
genres: Reference, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 18
publisher: UNKNO