The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins - Comprehensive Etymology Reference Book for Writers, Students & Linguists | Perfect for Research, Academic Studies & Language Enthusiasts

I got this book based on some of the reviews I read and there are indeed many good entries. But there are so many more missing entries that are far more common than what it is listed.Some of the entries I have looked for and NOT found:Tomfoolerycan't have your cake and eat it toocan't see the forest for the treesdog and pony showin the doghousewith bells onhard-nosedslowpokewisecrackOr in the case of "high noon" it has an entry but just says that it is not from the movie, it was first recorded in 14th-century England. No further explaination of how or why. In fact many of the entries that are listed don't have that answer. A large percentage of the entries have some form of uncertainty."... is probably dated back to...""It is unknown how...""... may have it's origins in..."The defintions of some of the phrases are confusing and don't even touch on origin. All I can do it list an entry on this one (NOTE: this is the complete entry):beg to advise. The much-used phrase beg to advise, so often read in business letters, may be dated but isn't incorrect by any means. Here "advise" doesn't mean "to give advice" but "to give information," information being one of the meanings of advice. This is seen in another common business expression: "We would appreciate the benefit of your advice."The index is also poor, it seems only to list the people who said the phrases not the actually phrases.I recommend the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins it has all of the phrases I couldn't find here. The index is great, it also list the root word of the phrase. So if I want "can't have your cake and eat it too" I could lookup the actual phrase or under "cake" it has a list of the phrases with cake in them.Keep in mind this book has a lot of words and phrases that one doesn't, and that one has a lot this one doesn't, but that one has more of what you (or at least I) want.