A Word in Your Shell-Like: 6,000 curious and everyday phrases explained

by NigelRees (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2004

  $3.28

  A complete guide to phrases in everyday life A Word in your Shell-Like will be the ideal replacement or complement to that tatty old copy of Brewer's most of us have about the house: a modern, entertaining guide to the wonderful world of phrases, familiar and unfamiliar, a landmark publication by one of the key world authorities in English language reference. It is an entirely phrase-based book, exploring well-known phrases -- catchphrases, slogans, idioms, cliches, nicknames, titles of books and films, and quotations. The articles will contain discussion of meaning, origin and usage. Sample entries include: 'but, miss -- you're beautiful without your glasses' 'I must go down to the seas again' 'small, but perfectly formed' 'sold down the river' 'abhors a vacuum' 'all dressed up and nowhere to go' 'and when did you last see your father?' 'Anglo-Saxon attitudes' 'another meal the Germans won't have' 'What did you do in the Great War, Daddy?' 'by Grand Central Station I sat down and wept' 'Burlington Bertie' Few other word reference books are likely to increase your store of knowledge with such fun: find out of whom it was said: 'he couldn't chew gum and fart at the same time', who the 'catcher in the rye' was, and what it means to be 'caught between wind and water'. in your shell?like (ear). Phrase used when asking to have a 'quiet word' with someone: '(Let me have a word) in your ear' is all it means, but it makes gentle fun of a poetic simile. Thomas Hood's Bianca's Dream (1827) has: 'Her small and shell-like ear'. The Complete Naff Guide (1983) has 'a word in your shell-like ear' among 'naff things schoolmasters say'.

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $3.28

  Unravel the meaning, origin, and usage of over 6,000 phrases from book and film titles, idioms and cliches, to nicknames, slogans and quotations with this modern and entertaining guide to wonderful phrases by one of the world's best-known wordsmiths. The ideal replacement or complement to that tatty old copy of Brewer's Phrase and Fable most of us have about the house, A Word in Your Shell-Like is an entertaining look at both familiar and unfamiliar phrases by one of the key world authorities in English language reference. The articles also contain discussion of meaning, origin and usage. Who was originally 'sold down the river'? Have you been told to 'Naff off'? Find out of whom it was said 'he couldn't chew gum and fart at the same time', who the 'catcher in the rye' was, and what it means to be 'caught between wind and water'. Few other word reference books are likely to increase your store of knowledge with such fun.