World Wide Words

After reading Lorraine's post (she seems to inspire me a lot, doesn't she? That's 'cuz she's so smart and witty. I hate her. Not really. I heart her.) - actually, after reading comments left on her post about her Christmas plans - I had to look up the origin of a saying used by Seattle Coffee Girl in her comment. The saying she used was "in like Flynn". Many of you may wonder if it's "in like Flynn", or really "in like Flint" - or maybe you won't wonder at all. I knew I had to find the answer. In my googlequest, I found this really great site. It's called World Wide Words. The subheading says "Michael Quinion writes about international English from a British viewpoint." Sounds right up your alley, charlie! There's a plethora of information, links, and definitions there for those who like words and phrases. I like the sidebar entitled Sic!, which highlights the humorous results of grammar and spelling errors found in a myriad of publications. Here's an example:

“I live in Colorado,” says Monica Hensinger, “where they recently passed an ambitious smoking ban. Signs have popped up everywhere informing people of the ban, but the most entertaining one I have seen was in Boulder, where a city-wide smoking ban has been in effect for several years. It read, ‘No Smoking by Boulder City Ordnance’. I didn’t know the city had its own artillery, but it’s probably a good idea to keep people from smoking around it.”

As one who counts Eats, Shoots, and Leaves among my favorite books of all time, this site is right up my alley. If you are similarly inclined, give it a look.

Oh, and for the answer to the "in like Flynn" question, click this link: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-inl1.htm. I learned something.