Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions - Making Sense of Transatlantic English (Hardcover)

If whilst consuming American films, music, novels and TV programmes you have ever wondered what on earth bangs are, how to play blackjack, what an APB really is, why suspenders and pants in the UK mean lingerie and in the US mean fashion in the style of Laurel and Hardy, then this is the reference book for you! Orin Hargraves presents a veritable cornucopia of lexicographical and cultural information. With an introduction to the historical divergence of British English and American English, notes on terminology and grammatical differences in the use of English, it is much more than a simple dictionary. Arranged by subject (Business, Education, Health, Leisure and so on), it can be used to discover the vocabulary, phrases and cultural niceties of both America and the United Kingdom and is therefore, a truly transatlantic reference tool. Particularly fascinating are the tables of equivalent phrases and idioms in British English and American English, the exhaustive descriptions of matters as diverse as cricket terminology, American post office abbreviations, a who's who of US and UK TV icons and a special section on swearing and insults, charmingly entitled 'Qualities of the Person'. Even the differences in punctuation and the Appendices are interesting - did you know that Irish Gaelic has no word for yes or no, hence the Irish English tendency to answer a yes/no question with a sentence rather than a word ('Does he live here? He does.') Any reader with an interest and a curiosity about language and how it is used will find much here to amuse and inform. (Kirkus UK)

This is a practical and entertaining guide for sorting out the differences between American and British English. As if written from a point in the Atlantic Ocean exactly between Britain and the US, this book catalogues the differences between the two forms of English in a readable and interesting way.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	April 2003
First published:	December 2002
Editors:	Orin Hargraves
Dimensions:	242 x 164 x 28mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	319
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-515704-8
Categories:	Books > Sport & Leisure > Humour > General Books > Language & Literature > Literary & linguistic reference works > Writing & editing guides > General Promotions
LSN:	0-19-515704-4
Barcode:	9780195157048

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