Max Cryer

Have you ever wondered where terms like ‘end of your tether’, ‘gets my goat’ or ‘letting one's hair down’ come from? Or why we call some people ‘geezers’, ‘sugar daddies’ or ‘lounge lizards’? Or where the words ‘eavesdropping’, ‘nickname’ and ‘D-Day’ come from? They are just a few of the many words and phrases that language expert Max Cryer examines...

Visitors to New Zealand are frequently surprised — and puzzled — by local terms and expressions. This concise A–Z dictionary, now updated in a new expanded edition, is a quick and easy reference to understanding the words and phrases that make the New Zealand language and speech patterns so different. Language expert Max Cryer not only provides helpful definitions for...

Why has Fido become a generic term for all dogs? Why did hundreds of people collect dog faeces – and sell it? Dogs never eat other dogs, so why is it a dog-eat-dog world? Did any dogs survive the Titanic? What is a Yorkipoo? Do mad dogs really go out in the midday sun? Every Dog Has Its Day pays...

From our earliest years, we have heard proverbs, and many of them are repeated without much thought. Yes, birds of a feather flock together and absence makes the heart grow fonder, but these sayings are so familiar that we are scarcely aware they are proverbs. It has been so for thousands of years, in every culture. It is only when...