“Is it really true that the American idiom ‘say uncle’ emerged from the bullying of a poor parrot – and murder most fowl? Has there been a more beknighted or benighted cut of beef than the ‘sirloin’ – at least when it comes to the word’s origin? … When it comes to the strange history of certain linguistic oddities, Jesus H. Christ (and where did the ‘H’ come from, exactly?), linguists, you got some ‘splainin’ to do!”