Lawtalk

by James Edward Clapp, Elizabeth G Thornburg, Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Marc Galanter, MD

2011 · Yale University Press

Law-related words and phrases abound in our everyday language, often without our being aware of their origins or their particular legal significance: "boilerplate," "jailbait," "pound of flesh," "rainmaker," "the third degree." This insightful and entertaining book reveals the unknown stories behind familiar legal expressions that come from sources as diverse as Shakespeare, vaudeville, and Dr. Seuss. Separate entries for each expression follow no prescribed formula but instead focus on the most interesting, enlightening, and surprising aspects of the words and their evolution. Popular myths and misunderstandings are explored and exploded, and the entries are augmented with historical images and humorous sidebars.Lively and unexpected, "Lawtalk" will draw a diverse array of readers with its abundance of linguistic, legal, historical, and cultural information. Those readers should be forewarned: upon finishing one entry, there is an irresistible temptation to turn to another, and yet another . . .

China's Old Dwellings

by Ronald G. Knapp, Professor and Chairman Department of Geography Ronald G Knapp

2000 · University of Hawaii Press

China's Old Dwellings is the most comprehensive critical examination of China's folk architectural forms in any language. It and its companion volume, China's Living Houses: Folk Beliefs, Symbols, and Household Ornamentation, together form a landmark study of the environmental, historical, and social factors that influence housing forms for nearly a quarter of the world's population. Both books draw on the author's thirty years of field-work and extensive travel in China as well as published and unpublished material in many languages.