Stupid Things I Have Seen (Pt97)

…..this morning, on BBC news, an interview with a writer who had produced a volume explaining the origins of common English phrases such as “hair of the dog” and “white elephant”. The two presenters were in awe of his knowledge, amazed at his erudition, gobsmacked at the many hours of study and research evident in his unique book.
Neither of them appeared to have heard of books like Brewer’s or The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms , let alone any of the dozens of similar collections put out by other writers over the years. Wonder how many of them this writer had on his shelf?