Download or read book In a Manner of Speaking written by Colin McNairn and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-04-28 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do “the whole kit and caboodle,” “the whole shebang,” “the whole megillah,” “the whole enchilada,” “the whole nine yards,” “the whole box and dice,” and “the full Monty” have in common? They’re all expressions that mean “the entire quantity,” and they’re all examples of the breadth and depth of the English-speaking world’s vocabulary. From the multitude of words and phrases in daily use, the author of this delightful exploration into what we say and why we say it zeroes in on those expressions and sayings and their variations that are funny, quirky, just plain folksy, or playfully dressed up in rhyme or alliteration. Some may have become clichés that, as it’s said with “tongue in cheek,” should be “avoided like the plague.” Others have been distorted, deemed politically incorrect, or shrouded in mystery and must bear some explanation. Among the topics the author delves into are expressions that shouldn’t be taken literally (“dressed to kill” and “kick the bucket”), foreign expressions that crept into English (“carte blanche,” “carpe diem,” and “que sera, sera”), phrases borrowed from print ads and TV commercials (“where there’s life, there’s Bud” and “where the rubber meets the road”), animal images (“a barrel of monkeys” and “chasing your tail”), and food and drink (“cast your bread upon the water,” “chew the fat,” “bottom’s up!”, and “drink as a lord”). Here’s a book for everyone who delights in the mysteries of language and the perfect gift for all the “wordies” in your life.

Download or read book One Good Turn written by Kate Atkinson and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2009-05-29 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is summer, it is the Edinburgh Festival. People queuing for a lunchtime show witness a road-rage incident—an incident which changes the lives of everyone involved. Jackson Brodie, ex-army, ex-police, ex-private detective, is also an innocent bystander—until he becomes a suspect. With Case Histories, Kate Atkinson showed how brilliantly she could explore the crime genre and make it her own. In One Good Turn she takes her masterful plotting one step further. Like a set of Russian dolls each thread of the narrative reveals itself to be related to the last. Her Dickensian cast of characters are all looking for love or money and find it in surprising places. As ever with Atkinson what each one actually discovers is their true self. Unputdownable and triumphant, One Good Turn is a sharply intelligent read that is also percipient, funny, and totally satisfying.

Download or read book NTC s Dictionary of Proverbs and Clich s written by Richard A. Spears and published by Contemporary Books. This book was released on 1993 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains approximately 950 old and new proverbs and clichés in use in English, each clearly defined and illustrated by two or more realistic examples. Allusions to American, British or European cultural elements are explained, and idioms derived from proverbs are defined as well. Includes a Phrase-Finder Index that allows the user to find an expression by looking up any major word in it.--From publisher description.

Download or read book My Not So Funny Valentine written by Ellie Pond and published by Mountain Keep Publishing. This book was released on 2020-12-26 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: She ran away once and he nailed his heart shut… Gigi’s got plenty of secrets. Like how she’s married to her job, literally. The Order called on her family for a tribute and she answered. Even more secrets surround her not-so-deceased boss who’s entrusted her to keep his location hidden from The Order. But through it all, she’s never forgotten her first love. Wallis remembers exactly how he felt when Gigi told him she was marrying a man she barely knew and moving to the West Coast. Wallis never told her what he’d found out at his wolf pack adulthood ceremony—that they’re fated mates. He’s kept the secret to himself through the years. Eighteen years later, she’s standing in the lobby of the Dark Wing cruise ship where Wallis works. Her couture exterior didn’t match the shredding she’d done on Wallis’s youthful heart. Fate has brought Wallis and Gigi back together on the Dark Wing cruise ship. Now Can he stay away from her for the whole Valentine’s Day cruise to protect his shattered heart? Or will Gigi’s secrets turn both their worlds upside down? This is book two in a standalone series, a full-length steamy read. Grab a box of chocolates and see how fate takes hold. HEA and no cliffhanger!

Download or read book Jackson Brodie 4 Book Bundle written by Kate Atkinson and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2012-12-26 with total page 1467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jackson Brodie is a private investigator in Cambridge. A former soldier and policeman, he makes his money working from investigating infidelity and finding missing cats. But Jackson's tough-guy exterior belies a deeply empathetic heart. He's unable to resist coming to the rescue and increasingly he becomes a magnet for the bereaved, the lost and the dysfunctional. Surrounded by death, intrigue and misfortune, his own life haunted by a family tragedy, the Jackson Brodie series begins as the investigator attempts to unravel three disparate case histories. He soon realizes, however, that in spite of apparent diversity, everything is connected. . . Now, with this four-volume eBook bundle, you can discover the novels that the New York Times has called “deliciously underhanded . . . and well worth waiting for.” “Atkinson’s detective novels are masterworks of character-driven plots and leisurely observation. But they are primarily triumphs of tone: sardonic, faithless, and dark as the inside of a cow. As a reader, you might come for the mystery, but you’ll return for the prose.” —The Globe and Mail This bundle includes: CASE HISTORIES ONE GOOD TURN WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS? STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG

Download or read book Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries written by Anne Bertram and published by NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company. This book was released on 1997 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anyone who has ever been curious about the derivation and significance of the proverbs and cliches that pepper the English language will satisfy their curiosity with this book that includes 950 old and new sayings, each with a concise definition and examples to illustrate meaning and function.

Download or read book You Are My Sunshine written by Katie Flynn and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-02-29 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kay Duffield's fiancé is about to leave the country, and her own duty with the WAAF is imminent when she becomes a bride. The precious few days she spends with her new husband are quickly forgotten once she starts work as a balloon operator, trained for the heavy work in order to release more men to fight. There she makes friends with shy Emily Bevan, who has left her parents' hill farm in Wales for the first time; down-to-earth Biddy Bachelor, fresh from the horrors of the Liverpool bombing, and spirited Jo Stewart, the rebel among them, whose disregard for authority looks set to land them all in trouble. The girls stay friends through good times and bad, through romantic encounters and, ultimately, tragedy.

Download or read book The Mayfair Dagger written by Ava January and published by Crooked Lane Books. This book was released on 2024-04-23 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A witty, feminist mystery set in the heart of nineteenth-century London, this daring adventure featuring an intrepid woman detective will thrill fans of Deanna Raybourn and Katharine Schellman. London, 1894. Albertine Honeycombe never wanted a husband and certainly not the one with fifteen children that her cousin, Aubrey, is trying to marry her off to. She reinvents herself as Countess Von Dagga, a private detective aiding the upper echelons of women in society. As the Countess, she is a married woman, with a conveniently absent husband who doesn’t exist, which allows her far more freedom than being single. When Lord Grendel, from whom she has recovered blackmail letters, is murdered, Albertine is suspect number one—having been the last person to see him. And when the Duke of Erleigh comes looking for her utterly fictitious husband, she realizes she has landed herself in hot water, without a tea bag. When Albertine also becomes the prime suspect in her fictional husband’s death, things are looking grim. Unless Albertine can prove who murdered Lord Grendel and clear her name, her choices are stepmothering enough small children to start a school or hanging from the end of Her Majesty's rope.

Download or read book Advertising written by Amos Parrish and published by . This book was released on 1927 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Shooting the Sleaze written by Alan Robinson and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2011-03-31 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shooting the Sleaze is a comic thriller that tingles the spine while tickling the funny-bone. It sets official state agencies at loggerheads with private sector counter-intelligence, each employing its own little band of killers. These frequently fall over each others feet. Meanwhile, someone is killing off reporters of the nations leading tabloid. Odd movements like The Poor Peoples Army and the Last of the Republicans are planning to blow away half of Londons famous landmarks. In addition, the countrys most savage uncaught serial killer, Jack the Stripper, is coming out of retirement with a bayonet and a license to kill. These join a glamorous columnist, a corrupt detective, a porn-loving Prime Minister, a former CIA hitman and many of the great and the good in a mad dance of comic violence that ends in a great bang and quite a bit of whimpering.

Download or read book McGraw Hill s Dictionary of American Idioms Dictionary written by Richard A. Spears and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2006-12-04 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shape up your English with thousands of idioms Whether you are a learner of English who is having difficulty understanding expressions in everyday speech or a native speaker who wants to expand your written or spoken range, you need a comprehensive reference for idioms, common phrases, and sayings of American English. McGraw-Hill's American Idioms Dictionary shows you the ropes of English and helps you: Expand your English-speaking abilities with these 14,000-plus expressions, proverbs, and common sayings, listed alphabetically Use American idioms correctly by following the many helpful examples Easily find the right phrase by one of its key words Some examples of the colorful English language, as spoken by Americans: at peace relaxed and happy every trick in the book every deceptive method known Johnny-on-the-spot someone who is in the right place at the right time make a killing to have a great success, especially in making money nine-to-five job a job with normal daytime hours scream bloody murder to complain bitterly take a powder to leave; to leave town

Download or read book Similes Dictionary written by Elyse Sommer and published by Visible Ink Press. This book was released on 2013-05-01 with total page 641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Language "Appealing As Sunlight After a Storm." A sentence should read as if its author, had he held a plough instead of a pen, could have drawn a furrow deep and straight to the end. —Henry David Thoreau Prose consists of ... phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house. —George Orwell Whether it invokes hard work or merely a hen-house, a good simile is like a good picture—it's worth a thousand words. Packed with more than 16,000 imaginative, colorful phrases—from “abandoned as a used Kleenex” to “quiet as an eel swimming in oil”—the Similes Dictionary will help any politician, writer, or lover of language find just the right saying, be it original or banal, verbose or succinct. Your thoughts will never be "as tedious as a twice-told tale" or "dry as the Congressional Record." Choose from elegant turns of phrases “as useful as a Swiss army knife” and “varied as expressions of the human face”. Citing more than 2,000 sources—from the Bible, Socrates, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and H. L. Mencken to popular movies, music, and television shows—the Similes Dictionary covers hundreds of subjects broken into thematic categories that include topics such as virtue, anger, age, ambition, importance, and youth, helping you find the fitting phrase quickly and easily. Perfect for setting the atmosphere, making a point, or helping spin a tale with economy, intelligence, and ingenuity, the vivid comparisons found in this collection will inspire anyone. Love comforteth like sunshine after rain. —William Shakespeare A face like a bucket —Raymond Chandler A man with little learning is like the frog who thinks its puddle a great sea. —Burmese proverb Peace, like charity, begins at home —Franklin Delano Roosevelt You know a dream is like a river ever changing as it flows. —Garth Brooks Fit as a fiddle —John Ray’s Proverbs He's not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. —Arthur Miller Ring true, like good china. —Sylvia Plath Music yearning like a God in pain —John Keats Busy as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. —Pat Conroy Enduring as mother love —Anonymous

Download or read book McGraw Hill s Dictionary of American Idoms and Phrasal Verbs written by Richard A. Spears and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2006-02-03 with total page 1100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn the language of Nebraska . . .and 49 other states With more entries than any other reference of its kind,McGraw-Hill’s Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs shows you how American English is spoken today. You will find commonly used phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions, proverbial expressions, and clichés. The dictionary contains more than 24,000 entries, each defined and followed by one or two example sentences. It also includes a Phrase-Finder Index with more than 60,000 entries.

Download or read book Books in Print written by and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 2132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Footprints in the Mind written by James M Bourke and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2010-11-22 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Footprints in the Mind is a collection of short stories in two parts. I was tempted to call the stories Footprints in the Sand, but on reflection I realized that footprints in sand do not last very long whereas the "footprints" I wish to describe are embedded in my mind. I hasten to add, however, that the stories are fictional. I probably have met some people like those in the stories and perhaps at some subconscious level they are real but my stories are a work of fiction. I cannot honestly say where they come from. They seem to pop up out of nowhere.

Download or read book Skullenia Collection Books 4 6 written by Tony Lewis and published by Next Chapter. This book was released on 2024-07-30 with total page 777 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Books 4-6 in Tony Lewis's Skullenia series, now available in one volume! The Quest for the Bone Idol: Ollie and the boys need a break from the detective agency, so when Stitches wins a competition at The Bolt and Jugular, it seems that fate may be finally smiling down on them. But But what should have been a relaxing cruise turns into a voyage of intrigue and mayhem on the high seas, when our intrepid explorers find themselves entangled in yet another mystery involving a strange relic, a dangerous foe, and a rather bawdy crew of pirates with interesting beards. A Witch in Time: Despite it being slightly more fun than a visit to a 12th century dentist, Stitches doesn't want to go Mrs. Ladle's game night. Tonight, she has promised them something special: a game that hasn't been played for a very long time. One that's bound to make the evening fly by and take them to an adventure packed full of derring-do and never-before chronicled acts of heroism and bravery. Intensive Scare: A psychic message, a portly medium, missing residents and a strange glow can only mean one thing: something is happening in Skullenia, and it's down to Ollie and the gang to sort it out. With the help of Deirdre Clownpuncher, the boys try to find out where everyone's gone before they disappear forever. Our heroes must employ all of their guts and guile to follow the clues which, seeing as they don't actually have any guts and guile, means they'll be relying on other people as usual.

Download or read book HRT Husband Replacement Therapy written by Kathy Lette and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-08-01 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An outrageously funny, heartbreaking read – when Ruby finds out she has cancer on the brink of her 50th birthday, she decides to start living instead of complying... Ruby has always been the generous mediator among her friends, family and colleagues, which is why they've all turned up to celebrate her 50th birthday. But after too many glasses of champers, Ruby takes her moment in the spotlight to reveal what she really thinks of every one of them. She accuses her husband of having an affair and lambasts her mother for a lifetime of playing her three daughters against each other – it's blisteringly brutal. As the stunned gathering gawks at Ruby, the birthday girl reveals that she has terminal cancer, and has cashed in her life savings to take her two estranged sisters cruising into the sunset for a dose of HRT – Husband Replacement Therapy. But is Ruby being courageous or ruthlessly selfish? Praise for Kathy Lette: 'Fabulous, fast-paced, funny & unapologetically female. Nobody does it better.' DEBORAH FRANCES-WHITE, THE GUILTY FEMINIST 'Deliciously rude and darkly funny, but with compassion and humanity at its heart. Read with relish.' NICOLE KIDMAN 'Kathy Lette can turn from raunchy farce to the most tender emotion in a trice.' STEPHEN FRY