Fruitcakes & Couch Potatoes

A compendium of 1,000 food-related terms and expressions. arranged into 13 categories of the various foods (fruits, vegetables, meat, etc.). Heavy emphasis on the origins of terms.

1,000 food-related terms and expressions, ranging from old chestnut to red herring to fruitcake to couch potato. What has "ham" to do with overacting? why does "nut" stand for a man's head and his gonads? Why do we say "Holy mackerel?" Quotations abound, from 4000 B.C. to the present. This book is addressed to foodies and word lovers.

Christine Ammer has written dozens of reference books on subject ranging from women's health, music, and linguistics. Her titles include The Facts on File Dictionary of Cliches, American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, Unsung: A History of Women in Classical Music, The New A to Z of Women's Health, Southpaws and Sunday Punches, Seeing Red or Tickled Pink, Fruitcakes and Couch Potatoes, It's Raining Cats and Dogs, and Fighting Words. She also writes a column of military terms for Military History Quarterly.