I’m very pleased to be the first person to rate and review this lovely guide to modern idioms. It’s absolutely worth checking out, especially if you love words and the way they come together to sometimes say something completely different than the sum of the individual components of the sentence would suggest.
This book was exactly the sort of engaging etymological guide to idiom that nay word nerd can…well, nerd out over. It’s light and fun and gallops through different modern mediums, from books to tv to sports to present the readers with origins for the popular (and some not so popular) sayings.
It is heavily skewed in British direction, but a good idiom is a good idiom, irrespective of its place of origin. I actually learned some of new ones, including the titular one, which sounds like some kind of a great surfing adventure but actually refers to the time when a quality of creative work drops down in and the creators behind it get desperate, this is most popularly used for tv shows, when their makers resort to drastic measures to revive public interest in them.
For that and more, check out this book. It’s etymology lite, informative and entertaining, without ever getting bogged down by pedantism or taking itself too seriously. It’s also charmingly slim, so it goes by like a proper quick fun without ever overstaying its welcome.
Things were learned. Fun was had. The amateur linguist in me was delighted. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

A decidedly British take on idioms and sayings that we all use often, as well as quite a few interesting ones that you’ve probably never heard. This was a quick, enjoyable, educational, read that was quite interesting. If you’re a word nerd, I would definitely recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley for the advance read copy.

Loved reading about the origins of idioms I hear often. Would recommend this book for most anyone. Just know it is written by a brit, so if that style doesn't work for you, this may not either.

Brilliant! Fun and witty with all the background detail of where those idioms began. Lots of TV, film and modern culture references, really enjoyed dipping in and out of this. Especially enjoyed discussing parts of this with my son who has autism, he can sometimes take things literally and struggle to understand what people mean when they use certain phrases. Had some great chats about when we might apply some of these idioms and learned a lot! Ideal for those who love language, great to dip in and out of. We made a quick family quiz out of some of the facts, Great gift for the curious, really interesting and useful book, highly recommend!

So many of the idioms in here I was not aware of where they came from. I kept driving my family nuts saying "did you know where _________ originated?". I enjoy books like this with information that you can drop into conversations later.

A very interesting book exploring some of the well known idioms in our British language, although a few I wasn’t as aware of!
This really is a great book for anyone who has an interest in language and the history and development of such things. Definitely something to get for the ultimate grammatical nerd out!