Did you know they started 'hearing through the grapevine' during the American Civil War, that 'ghettos' originated in Venice or that 'deadline' has a very sinister origin? Jam-packed with many amazing facts, "Fighting Talk" is a fascinating trip through the words and phrases that came to us from the military but nowadays are used by soldier and civilian alike. The sources of many are surprising and their original use is often far removed from that of today. From 'duds' to 'freelancers' and 'morris dancing' to 'bikini', this enthralling book describes the military origins of words and phrases that we use on a daily basis.

Author Biography

Graeme Donald has been researching the origins of words, nursery rhymes, superstitions and popular misconceptions for years and has published eight titles through Unwin-Hyman and Simon & Schuster. For the ten years that Today newspaper was on the stands he wrote a daily column exploring such material and also wrote for The Mirror and The Age in Melbourne. He devised and set the questions for Back to Square One, a word-origins based panel game which ran for eight series on Radio 2 and World Service. He has also guested on countless radio and television shows, either to explain words and customs at special times - Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc. - or simply to field listeners' or viewers' question.