Endangered Phrases

Intriguing Idioms Dangerously Close to Extinction

“Person to person” (and “station to station”), “bar sinister,” “the weed of crime bears bitter fruit,” “between the devil and the deep blue sea,” “will o’ the wisp,” “poor as Job’s turkey” . . . these are just a few phrases that were once part of everyday speech. However, due to our evolving language and other cultural changes, there are hundreds of phrases poised on the brink of extinction. Can such endangered phrases be saved? And if so, why? These are questions Steven D. Price, award-winning author and keen observer of the passing linguistic scene, answers in this challenging and captivating compilation. It is sure to increase your appreciation of the English language’s ebb and flow—and enhance your own vocabulary along the way.

Steven D. Price

Steven D. Price is the author or editor of thirty-nine fiction and nonfiction books, including the bestselling 1001 . . . Things Ever Said series and the award-winning The American Quarter Horse. In the course of his five-decade publishing career he has been a book and magazine editor and a literary agent. Currently a consulting editor and the “manuscript doctor” at Skyhorse Publishing, he lives in New York City.