Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2019 March 22

= March 22 =

Barry Ronge
Hi All, my Matric English exam paper was a comprehension piece exerted from a book by Barry Ronge where he explains the etymology of various phrases such as: "To eat humble pie". Please can someone name the book for me and if possible direct me to where it can be bought or better yet where it can be read online. Thanks in advance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.131.40.58 (talk) 11:59, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
 * We have an article on Barry Ronge which lists one book by him, Spit 'n Polish (Penguin 2006) This is a collection of work from his Sunday Times column and (from a description on a vending website page here) covers "some of Ronge's favourite topics such as . . . the peculiarities of the English language . . . [my italics]. He has also written More Spit 'n More Polish (mentioned at the foot of this article), which from its ISBN is evidently also published by Penguin.
 * It is likely that the extract came from one of these two books. Since they are recent Penguin publications, it is unlikely that they can legally be read online. You should be able to purchase either online via Penguin Books (whose most convenient website for you may depend on your location), or via new or second-hand booksellers of your choice. (I suspect the earlier volume may be out of print.) {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.200.138.194 (talk) 14:40, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your help but I am fairly confident that it was neither of these books as he had published before this. I Matriculated in 2001, before the books listed were published.  Also the article is less then complete as in the late 1990's he also used to write a weekly column on K9 psychology which I used to read, and which is not mentioned in the article.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.131.40.58 (talk) 16:01, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Various sites, including World cat, only list the two books mentioned by the poster formerly known as etc. But Ronge wrote lots of articles before the two books, so it's likely the OP ran across one of those. Xuxl (talk) 17:18, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
 * A valid suggestion, which I might have made had the OP mentioned the date he read the piece at the outset. It's quite likely that the article quoted in the exam, presumably directly from the Sunday Times, is contained in one or other of the two books, which will likely be easier to obtain that an isolated article and will contain other similar articles which the OP will likely also find of interest. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.200.138.194 (talk) 04:05, 23 March 2019 (UTC)

how do I close this page?
how do I close this page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.95.207.217 (talk) 16:30, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
 * You don't. MarnetteD&#124;Talk 16:34, 22 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Or, try the [X] button on top. —2606:A000:1126:28D:3873:46A8:372F:FD65 (talk) 19:49, 22 March 2019 (UTC)