Book Description
From "lamebrain" to "feet of clay," a heaping handful of English idioms, similes, metaphors, and other colorful turns of phrase.
Author : Pat Street
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 16,20 MB
Release : 2016
Category : English language
ISBN : 9780823421350
From "lamebrain" to "feet of clay," a heaping handful of English idioms, similes, metaphors, and other colorful turns of phrase.
Author : Jim Shepard
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 28,35 MB
Release : 2007-12-18
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 0307426718
I’ve been a problem baby, a lousy son, a distant brother, an off-putting neighbor, a piss-poor student, a worrisome seatmate, an unreliable employee, a bewildering lover, a frustrating confidante and a crappy husband. Among the things I do pretty well at this point I’d have to list darts, re-closing Stay-Fresh boxes, and staying out of the way. This is the self-eulogy offered early on by the unwilling hero of the opening story in this collection, a dazzling array of work in short fiction from a master of the form. The stories in Love and Hydrogen—familiar to readers from publications ranging from McSweeney’s to The New Yorker to Harper’s to Tin House—encompass in theme and compassion what an ordinary writer would seem to need several lifetimes to imagine. A frustrated wife makes use of an enterprising illegal-gun salesman to hold her husband hostage; two hapless adult-education students botch their attempts at rudimentary piano but succeed in a halting, awkward romance; a fascinated and murderous Creature welcomes the first human visitors to his Black Lagoon; and in the title story, the stupefyingly huge airship Hindenburg flies to its doom, representing in 1937 mankind's greatest yearning as well as its titanic failure. Generous in scope and astonishing in ambition, Shepard’s voice never falters; the virtuosity of Love and Hydrogen cements his reputation as, in the words of Rick Bass, “a passionate writer with a razor-sharp wit and an elephantine heart”—in short, one of the most powerful talents at work today.
Author : Jag Bhalla
Publisher : Disney Electronic Content
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 26,22 MB
Release : 2009-06-16
Category : Humor
ISBN : 1426205309
"I’m not hanging noodles on your ears." In Moscow, this curious, engagingly colorful assertion is common parlance, but unless you’re Russian your reaction is probably "Say what?" The same idea in English is equally odd: "I’m not pulling your leg." Both mean: Believe me. As author Jag Bhalla demonstrates, these amusing, often hilarious phrases provide a unique perspective on how different cultures perceive and describe the world. Organized by theme—food, love, romance, and many more—they embody cultural traditions and attitudes, capture linguistic nuance, and shed fascinating light on "the whole ball of wax." For example, when English-speakers are hard at work, we’re "nose to the grindstone," but industrious Chinese toil "with liver and brains spilled on the ground" and busy Indians have "no time to die." If you’re already fluent in 10 languages, you probably won’t need this book, but you’ll "get a kick out of it" anyhow; for the rest of us, it’s a must. Either way, this surprising, often thought-provoking little tome is gift-friendly in appearance, a perfect impulse buy for word lovers, travelers, and anyone else who enjoys looking at life in a riotous, unusual way. And we’re not hanging noodles from your ear.
Author : Audrey Bea
Publisher : Xist Publishing
Page : 15 pages
File Size : 30,5 MB
Release : 2021-02-24
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 153243166X
Have you ever hear a joke, a pun, or just a strange statement and said, "Wait, what?" This little book features funny and fanciful ideas designed to spark conversation and get your brain thinking deeply about language, idioms, and the world we live in. Each "Wait, what?" statement or question is illustrated by a cute kawaii style image to add to the fun. Sample pages include: If you sweat in a sweater, are you the sweater? and Ice skating is just walking in cursive. Great for dinnertime conversation, getting teens and older kids to engage, or sparking thought in a gifted young child, this book is a weird and wonderful look at language.
Author : Denis Johnson
Publisher : Random House
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 50,94 MB
Release : 2018-01-16
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 0812988647
Twenty-five years after Jesus’ Son, a haunting new collection of short stories on mortality and transcendence, from National Book Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Denis Johnson NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Dwight Garner, The New York Times • Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air • Chicago Tribune • Newsday • New York • AV Club • Publishers Weekly “Ranks with the best fiction published by any American writer during this short century.”—New York “A posthumous masterpiece.”—Entertainment Weekly NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • The Washington Post • NPR • The Boston Globe • New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • Bloomberg The Largesse of the Sea Maiden is the long-awaited new story collection from Denis Johnson. Written in the luminous prose that made him one of the most beloved and important writers of his generation, this collection finds Johnson in new territory, contemplating the ghosts of the past and the elusive and unexpected ways the mysteries of the universe assert themselves. Finished shortly before Johnson’s death, this collection is the last word from a writer whose work will live on for many years to come. Praise for The Largesse of the Sea Maiden “An instant classic.”—Newsday “Exceptional luminosity . . . hits a powerful vein.”—The New York Times Book Review “Grace and oblivion are inextricably yoked in these transcendent stories. . . . [Johnson’s] gift is to extract the beauty in all that brokenness.”—The Wall Street Journal “Nobody ever wrote like Denis Johnson. Nobody ever came close. . . . We’re just left with this miraculous book, these perfect stories, the last words from one of the world’s greatest writers.”—NPR
Author : T.C. Boyle
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 16,51 MB
Release : 2002-12-31
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 110157383X
Few authors in America write with such sheer love of story, language, and imagination as T.C. Boyle, and nowhere is that passion more evident than in his inventive, wickedly funny, and widely praised short stories. In After the Plague, Boyle speaks of contemporary social issues in a range of emotional keys. The sixteen stories gathered here address everything from air rage to abortion doctors to first love and its consequences. The collection ends with the brilliant title story, a whimsical and imaginative vision of a disease-ravaged Earth. Presented with characteristic wit and intelligence, these stories will delight readers in search of the latest news of the chaotic, disturbing, and achingly beautiful world in which we live. "Boyle's imagination and zeal for storytelling are in top form here."—Publishers Weekly
Author : Julia Slavin
Publisher : Picador
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 29,19 MB
Release : 2000-07-06
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780312264130
In her debut collection, Julia Slavin conjures a world that is both familiar and limitless, where amidst our ordinary lives the banal and the unimaginable brush up against one another with startling grace and ease. From a lovelorn woman who sprouts teeth all over her body, to a man who literally falls to pieces, The Woman Who Cut Off Her Leg at the Maidstone Club is an inspiring work of the imagination, and a satiric and piercing look at the soul.
Author : Office of Office of English Language Programs
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 31,74 MB
Release : 2015-02-17
Category :
ISBN : 9781508507383
In the Loop is divided into three parts: Part 1, "Idioms and Definitions"; Part 2, "Selected Idioms by Category"; and Part 3, "Classroom Activities." The idioms are listed alphabetically in Part 1. Part 2 highlights some of the most commonly used idioms, grouped into categories. Part 3 contains classroom suggestions to help teachers plan appropriate exercises for their students. There is also a complete index at the back of the book listing page numbers for both main entries and cross-references for each idiom.
Author : Cristina Cacciari
Publisher : Psychology Press
Page : 356 pages
File Size : 48,14 MB
Release : 2014-02-25
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 1317782631
"The book draws on a lot of research, is friendly to the reader, and will be of good value to teachers." Paul Nation, Victoria University of Wellington, Australia This comprehensive, up-to-date, and accessible text on idiom use, learning, and teaching approaches the topic with a balance of sound theory and extensive research in cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, corpus linguistics, and sociolinguistics combined with informed teaching practices. Idioms is organized in three parts: Part I includes discussion of idiom definition, classification, usage patterns, and functions. Part II investigates the process involved in the comprehension of idioms and the factors that influence individuals’ understanding and use of idioms in both L1 and L2. Part III explores idiom acquisition and the teaching and learning of idioms, focusing especially on the strategies and techniques used to help students learn idioms. To assist the reader in grasping the key issues, study questions are provided at the end of each chapter. The text also includes a glossary of special terms and an annotated list of selective idiom reference books and student textbooks. Idioms is designed to serve either as a textbook for ESL/applied linguistics teacher education courses or as a reference book. No matter how the book is used, it will equip an ESL/applied linguistics students and professionals with a solid understanding of various issues related to idioms and the learning of them.
Author : Cynthia Fitterer Klingel
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 42,85 MB
Release : 2007-08
Category : English language
ISBN : 9781592969036
Explains the meaning of some common sayings.