Working Vocabulary

The man on the cover of “The Wage Slave’s Glossary’’ (Biblioasis) carries a briefcase and wears a ball and chain. Are those tears or drops of sweat falling away from him? No matter. Joshua Glenn and Mark Kingwell, creators of “The Idler’s Glossary,’’ offer a wry brand of enlightenment in their pocket-sized guide to the terms of paid labor. The phrase “Keeping up with the Joneses’’ sprang from a 1913 comic strip in which the Joneses never appeared. And they trace the origin of “knock off work’’ to the days when oarsmen rowed in unison and a special knock would signify a time to rest.