"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Clichés are so prevalent, in fact, that a comprehensive listing is probably impossible, but in The Penguin Dictionary of Clichés, Julia Cresswell gives it her best shot (pardon the, er, cliché). The 320-page dictionary is an alphabetical listing of more than 1,500 clichés in both British and American English, across a chronological range from 800 or so AD ("hither and yon") to the turn of the 21st century ("bad hair day"). Each cliché is accompanied by a note on meaning and origin, including citations of appearance in print.
Just as the joy of perusing the Oxford English Dictionary (a resource Creswell pays tribute to in her introduction) is in the citations, the fun of The Penguin Dictionary of Clichés comes from checking out when and how familiar clichés infiltrated English. How many of us know, for example, that "kicking against the pricks" dates back to the Authorised or "King James" version of the Bible (Acts 9:5), or that the phrase "lie back and think of England" actually appears in the diary of an Edwardian lady?
Compact, comprehensive, well-researched and written, The Penguin Dictionary of Clichés will be enjoyed by anyone interested in the evolution of the informal words and phrases that give the English language much of its colour and vigour. --C A Wills
Julia Cresswell is a freelance researcher, writer, and editor and has published numerous dictionaries and reference books. She also tutors in Philology, Old and Middle English and Medieval Studies.
She lives in Oxford.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
(No Available Copies)
Search Books: Create a WantIf you know the book but cannot find it on AbeBooks, we can automatically search for it on your behalf as new inventory is added. If it is added to AbeBooks by one of our member booksellers, we will notify you!
Create a Want