Download or read book Black Cats April Fools Origins of Old Wives Tales and Superstitions in Our Daily Lives written by Harry Oliver and published by Metro Publishing. This book was released on 2009-06-01 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We have all touched wood to ward off misfortune, or seen a bride throw a bouquet over her head at a wedding, but how often do we stop to think about where such customs come from, or why we still use them? The truth is that behind many of our daily rituals and beliefs lies a fascinating history of weird and wonderful notions, some rational, others fanciful, that provide a rich and entertaining addition to our lives. In this charming and endlessly diverting book, best-selling author Harry Oliver has delved into the stories behind our rich traditions to explain them to us with characteristic wit and flair, in a gem of a volume that will clear up any of the niggling doubts you may have about our everyday beliefs. So before you search for any more four-leaf clovers, worry about the next Friday 13th or tell someone that chocolate will give them spots, dip into this amazing tome and discover the truth about our diverse beliefs so that next time your ear itches you'll know if someone's really talking about you!
Download or read book Black Cats Four leaf Clovers written by Harry Oliver and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cross your fingers, knock on wood, and clutch your rabbit's foot a little tighter. In this charming and endlessly diverting book, Harry Oliver delves into the stories behind the traditions and superstitions that permeate our everyday lives, unearthing the fascinating histories of these weird and wonderful notions. So before you search for any more four-leaf clovers, worry about the next Friday the 13th, or avoid walking under any ladders, dip into this amazing tome and discover: * Why breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. * The best day of the week to ask for a favor. * Why you should never jump over a child in Turkey.
Download or read book Black Cats and Evil Eyes written by Chloe Rhodes and published by Michael O'Mara. This book was released on 2012-09-13 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book illuminates the customs, beliefs and practices that link us to an ancient, and often darker, human past.
Download or read book Bees Knees and Barmy Armies Origins of the Words and Phrases We Use Every Day written by Harry Oliver and published by Metro Publishing. This book was released on 2010-10-05 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fromstiff upper lipto stomping grounds, an amusing look at the history behind commonly-used words and phrasesWhat makes someone "pleased as punch?" Why is New York City called "The Big Apple?" Why do we "dress to the nines?"And what does it mean to escape by the "skin of your teeth?" Every day speech is peppered with hundreds of phrases and expressions, but rarely are their origins contemplated. This intriguing survey delves deep into the history behind hundreds of common words and turns of phrase and uncovers their fascinating and amusing sources. From ancient idioms to up-to-the minute lingo, this is the perfect resource for etymologists and language-lovers alike."
Download or read book Black Cats Four Leaf Clovers written by Harry Oliver and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-09-07 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cross your fingers, knock on wood, and clutch your rabbit's foot a little tighter. In this charming and endlessly diverting book, Harry Oliver delves into the stories behind the traditions and superstitions that permeate our everyday lives, unearthing the fascinating histories of these weird and wonderful notions. So before you search for any more four-leaf clovers, worry about the next Friday the 13th, or avoid walking under any ladders, dip into this amazing tome and discover: *Why breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. *The best day of the week to ask for a favor. *Why you should never jump over a child in Turkey.
Download or read book Cat Flaps and Mouse Traps written by Harry Oliver and published by Metro Publishing, Limited. This book was released on 2007 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why did Isaac Newton invent the cat flap? How did the first mousetrap come about? Why did it take nearly 20 years to make sliced bread?From the moment the alarm clock wakes us up in the morning until the time we switch the light off at night, we are surrounded by things without which our lives would be impossible: microwaves, televisions, cars, cell phones, and credit cards—the list is endless. Yet how often do we consider how such miniature wonders of our lives came about, who invented them, and why? The answers are often incredibly interesting. In this delightful volume, Harry Oliver reveals the most diverting and amusing stories that lie behind the objects and inventions we take for granted, from household items to the technology that fills our world. Everything around us was born from an idea, and as you read the pages in this book, the ordinary will soon appear rather more extraordinary than it did before.
Download or read book Mr Hartston s Most Excellent Encyclopedia of Useless Information written by William Hartston and published by Metro Publishing, Limited. This book was released on 2006 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Useless information--we can't get enough of it. Everywhere you look these days, there is a new book of trivia, a new web page, a new column in the newspaper, all containing a wealth of fascinatingly useless tidbits. Finding the answers to questions you'd never thought to ask, reading an off-the-wall statistic, or browsing through lists of zany facts is always a refreshing and amusing distraction from the tawdry details of everyday life. But this is no ordinary list of random facts. Unlike other books of useless information, it is organized alphabetically and full of cross references so that all those hilarious entries can be enjoyed and shared with other like-minded trivia fanatics. This is a treasure chest of a book for anyone whose curiosity extends beyond the worthy and dull to the eccentric and amusing!
Download or read book Superstition written by Sally Coulthard and published by Quadrille Publishing. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Superstitions have captured our imaginations for centuries but we are often unaware of where they came from and why. In her new book Superstition, Sally Coulthard explores the history and background of 50 of these fascinating cultural behaviours, how they affected our everyday, and how many of these beliefs still permeate modern life. From opening umbrellas indoors to not putting new shoes on the table, Sally gets under the skin of these peculiar pastimes and reveals how they started and why they became so popular.
Download or read book The Black Cat written by Edgar Allan Poe and published by SAMPI Books. This book was released on 2024-01-29 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" is a short story that explores themes of guilt and perversity. The narrator, haunted by cruelty to his black cat and acts of domestic violence, is consumed by paranoia and madness. His attempt to conceal a crime leads to his own disgrace.
Download or read book Pop Goes the Weasel written by Albert Jack and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-09-29 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the international bestselling author of Red Herrings and White Elephants—a curious guide to the hidden histories of classic nursery rhymes. Who was Mary Quite Contrary, or Georgie Porgie? How could Hey Diddle Diddle offer an essential astronomy lesson? Do Jack and Jill actually represent the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette? And if Ring Around the Rosie isn’t about the plague, then what is it really about? This book is a quirky, curious, and sometimes sordid look at the truth behind popular nursery rhymes that uncovers the strange tales that inspired them—from Viking raids to political insurrection to smuggling slaves to freedom. Read Albert Jack's posts on the Penguin Blog.
Download or read book Superstitions written by Deborah Murrell and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social sciences.
Download or read book Zig Zag written by and published by . This book was released on 1958 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Encyclopedia of Superstitions written by Richard Webster and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2012-09-08 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever rubbed a frog on your freckles? Trivia fans and fun fact fanatics will adore this fascinating, flickable encyclopedia of superstitions! Richard Webster presents over five hundred of the most obscure, curious, and just-plain-freaky superstitions of the Western world. Discover batty beliefs about baldness, beans, and the Bermuda Triangle, and peculiar practices regarding hiccups, hearses, and hunchbacks. From modern myths to centuries-old lore, The Encyclopedia of Superstitions offers a wealth of wonderfully weird beliefs on just about every topic you can imagine: Holidays Birth Death Weddings Colors Gemstones Trees Flowers Fairies Weather Numbers Animals Birds Insects Household Items Zodiac Signs Gambling The Human Body Food Praise: "[T]his reference makes for compulsive browsing."—Publishers Weekly
Download or read book The Death of Expertise written by Tom Nichols and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the early 1990s, a small group of "AIDS denialists," including a University of California professor named Peter Duesberg, argued against virtually the entire medical establishment's consensus that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was the cause of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Science thrives on such counterintuitive challenges, but there was no evidence for Duesberg's beliefs, which turned out to be baseless. Once researchers found HIV, doctors and public health officials were able to save countless lives through measures aimed at preventing its transmission"--
Download or read book Sophie s World written by Jostein Gaarder and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2007-03-20 with total page 735 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.
Download or read book Superstitions written by D.R. McElroy and published by Wellfleet Press. This book was released on 2020-05-26 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Across all cultures and spanning centuries, superstitions rooted in cultural legends and myths have formed and influenced daily life. Superstitions: A Handbook of Folklore, Myths, and Legends from around the World explains how and why these legends and the associated behaviors behind them developed, accompanied by beautiful illustrations. In this definitive reference, you’ll learn the fascinating and often bizarre histories of a comprehensive range of superstitions from around the world. For example, the belief that one will have seven years' bad luck if you break a mirror is said to come from the Romans, who were the first to create glass mirrors. And in Japanese culture, cutting your nails at night is thought to lead to a quick death because the two phrases sound similar. You’ll also find out why some superstitions vary from culture to culture. For instance, the “unlucky” number 13 is considered a bad omen in some countries, like the US, and “lucky” in other countries, like Italy—where the number 17 is considered unlucky. The information is organized by country, so you can easily investigate the popular superstitions linked to your own or other specific ethnic heritage or cultural identity. Satisfy your burning curiosity with this complete guide to superstitions, folklore, and myths. The Mystical Handbook series from Wellfleet takes you on a magical journey through the wonderful world of spellcraft and spellcasting. Explore a new practice with each volume and learn how to incorporate spells, rituals, blessings, and cleansings into your daily routine. These portable companions feature beautiful foil-detail covers and color-saturated interiors on a premium paper blend. Other titles in the series include: Witchcraft, Love Spells, Moon Magic, Knot Magic, and House Magic.
Download or read book Kentucky Superstitions written by Daniel Lindsey Thomas and published by . This book was released on 1920 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
