Michael Quinion is the man behind the highly successful worldwidewords website, the first port of call for anyone wanting to discover the origin or meaning of the many puzzling words and expressions that pepper the English language. Quinion also has considerable lexicographic form, however, since he has been contributing to the Oxford English Dictionary since 1991; his new book, Why is Q always followed by U?, is the fruit of both these areas of activity. It comprises the answers to around 200 of the questions sent to his website over the past decade or so, each anything up to three pages in length, and copiously illustrated with quotations from a wide range of literary and other sources.

The title article is a characteristically lucid and thorough explanation of why the letter Q is always followed by U in English words, but not when it is used in transliterations of words from other languages (the answer, as is so often the case, boils down to historical accident). This close focus on the history of spelling is not typical of the articles as a whole, however; they range from explanations of the etymology of grub and hullabaloo, to the origins of expressions such as Lord love a duck and Mad as a hatter. While many of the expressions are familiar, some were new to me, such as Katy bar the door (a warning that trouble is coming) and Monkey’s Wedding (an occasion when there is sun and rain together).

The book is organised alphabetically and there is no index, so to find out if a particular expression is covered you have to look in the text. This is not normally a problem, though I did look first under W to find out Why it is that Q is always followed by U; the article is in fact titled Q followed by U. However, this is not so much a book for looking things up, as a book for browsing. You look up one expression, for example soapbox, and your eye is caught by another: who could resist finding out what So dull you could ride to China on them means? I certainly couldn’t!

Those who are familiar with the website, or with Quinion's other books, will already relish his trenchant and witty style. In a reply to a question about the origin of For Pete’s sake (does it refer to Michelangelo requesting funds for St Peter’s?) he observes:

That’s a classic example of a ridiculous invented origin that we needn’t spend much time refuting, even if we assume it was meant seriously, which I somehow doubt.

To a query about the meaning of beyond the pail (actually beyond the pale) he replies: ‘Isn’t that where you go when you kick the bucket?’.

In short, this nicely produced book will be relished by anyone who enjoys reading, thinking and finding out about the English language. And that’s everyone, isn’t it?

Why is Q always followed by U?
Michael Quinion
Particular Books
2009
ISBN 978-1-846-14184-3