'Brilliant for anyone interested in the effervescent oddness of English' --Stig Abell on Word Drops
What makes a place so memorable that it survives for ever in a word? In this captivating round-the-world jaunt, Paul Anthony Jones reveals the intriguing tales behind how 80 different places came to be immortalised in our language.
Beginning in London and heading through Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Americas, then back to London again, each chapter leads into the next like a travelogue. As well as the origins of turkeys, brazil nuts, limericks and Panama hats, there’s the story of how a small Czech village gave us the word dollar; how a tiny hamlet in Nottinghamshire became Gotham City; how an island with more bears than people gave us hooch; and how Stellenbosch, a South African town, became a verb meaning to demote someone on the sly.
Our dictionaries are full of hidden histories, tales and adventures from all over the world – if you know where to look. Beautifully designed, consistently entertaining and ideal for dipping into, Around the World in 80 Words is the perfect gift: a whimsical voyage through the far-flung reaches of the English language.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTS; Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi; 1. London, UK Kent Street ejectment.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1; 2. Vire, France vaudeville.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5; 3. Saverne, France zabernism.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9; 4. Spa, Belgium spa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19; 5. Neander Valley, Germany Neanderthal. . . . . . . . . . . 24; 6. Amsterdam, Netherlands ampster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28; 7. Copenhagen, Denmark Great Dane. . . . . . . . . . . . . 31; 8. Oslo, Norway Oslo breakfast.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35; 9. Ytterby, Sweden yttrium.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39; 10. Helsinki, Finland Finlandisation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43; 11. Dubna, Russia dubnium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46; 12. Balaklava, Ukraine balaclava. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51; 13. Istanbul, Turkey turkey.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55; 14. Nicosia, Cyprus copper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58; 15. Abdera, Greece Abderian laughter.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61; 16. Sofia, Bulgaria buggery.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64; 17. Skopje, Macedonia macedoine.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67; 18. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Balkanisation.. . . . 70; 19. Zagreb, Croatia cravat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73; 20. Kocs, Hungary coach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77; 21. Rakow, Poland Racovian.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80; 22. Jachymov, Czech Republic dollar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83; 23. Kahlenbergerdorf, Austria calembour. . . . . . . . . . . . 87; 24. Magenta, Italy magenta.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90; 25. Jura Mountains, France/Switzerland Jurassic. . . . . . 94; 26. Monte Carlo, Monaco Monte Carlo fallacy. . . . . . . . 97; 27. Porto, Portugal port.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100; 28. Jerez de la Frontera, Spain sherry.. . . . . . . . . . . . 104; 29. Gibraltar Siege of Gibraltar.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106; 30. Tangier, Morocco tangerine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108; 31. Algiers, Algeria Algerine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111; 32. Canary Islands canary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114; 33. Timbuktu, Mali Timbuktu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117; 34. Conakry, Guinea guinea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120; 35. Brazzaville, Congo conga.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123; 36. Stellenbosch, South Africa Stellenbosch.. . . . . . . . . 125; 37. Mocha, Yemen mocha.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128; 38. Cairo, Egypt fustian.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130; 39. Bethlehem, Palestine bedlam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134; 40. Mount Nebo, Jordan Pisgah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137; 41. Samarra, Iraq appointment in Samarra.. . . . . . . . . . 139; 42. Qumis, Iran Parthian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141; 43. Bukhara, Uzbekistan buckram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144; 44. Kabul, Afghanistan Afghanistanism. . . . . . . . . . . . 148; 45. Deolali, India doolally.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151; 46. Colombo, Sri Lanka serendipity.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155; 47. Samut Songkhram, Thailand Siamese twins. . . . . . . 158; 48. Phnom Penh, Cambodia gamboge. . . . . . . . . . . . . 162; 49. Shanghai, China Shanghaiing.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164; 50. Shangdu, China Xanadu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167; 51. Kagoshima, Japan satsuma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170; 52. Manila, Philippines Manila paper.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 173; 53. Makassar, Indonesia antimacassar. . . . . . . . . . . . . 175; 54. Tasmania, Australia vandemonianism.. . . . . . . . . . . 178; 55. Karitane, New Zealand Karitane.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 182; 56. Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands bikini.. . . . . . . . . . . 185; 57. Klondike, Canada Klondike. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188; 58. Admiralty Island, Alaska, USA hooch.. . . . . . . . . . 191; 59. Hollywood, California, USA Hollywood no.. . . . . . . 193; 60. Jalap, Mexico jalapeno. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196; 61. San Jose, Costa Rica Panlibhonco. . . . . . . . . . . . . 199; 62. Panama City, Panama Panama hat.. . . . . . . . . . . . 202; 63. Lima, Peru Lima syndrome.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205; 64. Stanley, Falkland Islands Falklands effect.. . . . . . . . 209; 65. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil nut.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 211; 66. Cayenne, French Guiana cayenne pepper. . . . . . . . . 216; 67. Daiquiri, Cuba daiquiri cocktail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218; 68. Hamilton, Bermuda Bermuda.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221; 69. Buncombe, North Carolina, USA bunkum.. . . . . . . 224; 70. New York, USA tuxedo.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227; 71. Toronto, Canada Toronto blessing.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 230; 72. Labrador, Canada Labrador. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233; 73. Geysir, Iceland geyser.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236; 74. Limerick, Ireland limerick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239; 75. Dublin, Ireland donnybrook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243; 76. Glasgow, UK Glasgow magistrate.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 246; 77. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Newcastle programme. . . . 251; 78. Gotham, UK Gothamite.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255; 79. Coventry, UK send to Coventry.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259; 80. Porlock, UK person from Porlock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263; Epilogue.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267; Select bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269; Acknowledgements.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271