"Letting one's hair down"

AN eclectic collection of popular expressions and sayings were presented by favourite New Zealand wordsmith Max Cryer at a lunchtime session in the Feilding Public Library last week.

More than 100 people enjoyed Cryer’s first appearance at the library as he introduced his latest book, Curious English Words and Phrases, and explained where the likes of “gets my goat”, “letting one’s hair down” and “raining cats and dogs” came from, what they meant and how they were used.

And words such as “eavesdropping”, “nickname” and “D-Day” also came in for close scrutiny at the successful event, hosted by the library and sponsored by Paper Plus.

Library Manager Simon Johnson said Cryer’s 40-minute presentation was followed by a book signing session and the chance to inter-act with other interested students of the English language.