From NPR-
In Begat, David Crystal sets out to prove that the King James Bible has contributed more to the English language than any other literary source.
If you've ever "fought the good fight" or chuckled at "what comes out of the mouths of babes," you just might agree with him.
Phrases with roots in the King James Bible are everywhere. Crystal tells NPR's Neal Conan that writing Begat began with his curiosity about a simple question: How many English language idioms come from the King James Bible? When Crystal posed this question to people, they guessed a wide range of answers — anywhere from 50 to 1,000. So he decided he'd better read the Bible and figure it out.
"I went through it and looked for every instance of an expression that I thought was current in modern English," Crystal says. "And then I thought: I'd better read it again, just to make sure I haven't missed any." And after that second reading, he had a figure.
More here-
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/22/132262167/thank-the-king-james-bible-for-favorite-phrases?sc=ipad&f=1008
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