This is a modern and entertaining guide to the wonderful world of phrases, familiar and
unfamiliar. "A Word in your Shell-Like" is 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 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', and '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'.
Paperback, 768 pages