Although I receive questions about every conceivable topic, the most common single category is word origins. Although I've included a few etymological entries in the Imponderables series, I've always felt queasy about including them. Imponderables should be mysteries you can't solve by consulting other reference books, and there is no way to track down the origins of our illogical language without the Oxford English Dictionary and scores of other etymological sources.

So we decided to do a whole book on word and phrase origins, and BUTTERFLY is it. Ever wonder about why we beat around the bush or get the heebie-jeebies? BUTTERFLY also includes the most often-asked question we receive: Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways? Unfortunately, though, it hasn't stopped scads of folks from sending the same question to me by the truckload. Sigh.