SHAGGY DOG:TO BE blessed with the gift of blarneymeans a person is able to talk their way into another's affections, or indeed out of trouble, with considerable ease. The expression can be traced to Ireland and a historic event that took place in 1602.
During the reign of Elizabeth I, the English army besieged Blarney Castle and the owner, Dermot McCarthy, and his soldiers found themselves trapped inside.
Dermot, also known as Cormac McCarthy, was ordered to surrender his property as a show of loyalty to the queen, but he had no intention of doing that. He also had no intention of starving to death, so instead adopted gentle diplomacy as an answer to his problem.
After many excuses and much prevarication, which included plenty of flattering letters and messages sent to the queen, the siege eventually failed when Elizabeth finally gave in to his Irish charm.
However, at one point she had become so frustrated with McCarthy's delaying tactics she famously exclaimed: "Odds bodkins, that's more Blarney talk."
These days the legend is that if a visitor should place a kiss on a particular stone at Blarney Castle, they too will be blessed with McCarthy's gift of the gab.
If something is offered for sale as cheap at half the price, it is being sold as a bargain. Many people have been baffled by this sales tactic, and with good reason, too.
"If it would be cheap at half of this price, then make it half of this price instead of suggesting it is expensive at this price, and then I might buy it," they might say.
Some go even further and claim the phrase should be "cheap at twice the price", meaning it would still be a bargain if the price were doubled.
But all of that is to miss the point completely.
During the second World War, when basic items were hard to obtain and inflation was causing problems for everybody, many shops could charge whatever they liked for everyday goods such as food, clothing and toiletries.
However, street traders and market stallholders were usually able to offer the same items for sale at half the price listed in the major stores.
This led to their advertising slogans and signboards offering goods cheaply and at "half of the price a buyer might expect to pay elsewhere".
We only need to reword the phrase slightly to understand their meaning.
"Being sold cheaply here at half the price you will pay anywhere else" would have prevented any confusion in our understandings of the phrase today.
But it doesn't trip off the tongue in quite the same way, does it?
• Extracted from Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheepby Albert Jack (Penguin Books)
