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dictionaries, specialist reference, language history

Dictionary of English Idioms

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explanations of familiar phrases and popular sayings

Dictionary of English Idioms. Do you know the origin of the expressions ‘as mad as a hatter’ – ‘to cut the mustard’ – or ‘a mess of pottage ‘? I knew the first one, because it comes from my home town, Stockport in Cheshire UK, where milleners went slightly bonkers from the use of mercury in hat manufacturing. [And if the expression also reminds you of Lewis Carrol, we’re not far from Dewsbury where he was born.]

English IdiomsThis is another of OUP’s cheap and cheerful specialist dictionaries, containing 6,000 idioms, alphabetically arranged by key word, and covering metaphorical phrases, familiar quotations and proverbs, and similes. It provides meanings for well-known idioms such as set the world alight, cost an arm and a leg, once in a blue moon, and many more. A date of origin is often given and many entries are supported by illustrative quotations from sources as varied as the Bible, the Spectator, and the novels of Agatha Christie.

The collection covers expressions from British English (the man on the Clapham omnibus) as well as American English (cut to the chase) and quite a few from Australian English (give someone Bondi). Full of fascinating facts, this dictionary is ideal for anyone with an interest in the origins of words and phrases. Arrangement of words alphabetically by key word means easy browsing.

As a work of reference, it will probably be of most use to someone trying to improve their English, or someone trying to become more intimately acquainted with those parts of a language which cannot be absorbed by knowledge of vocabulary and grammar alone. How else for instance would a foreigner learn the meaning of raining cats and dogs? But ultimately it will be attractive to anyone interested in the origins of the colloquial and quirky byways of the English language.

Dictionary of English Idioms   Buy the book at Amazon UK

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© Roy Johnson 2010

John Ayto, Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, Oxford: Oxford University Press, third edition, 2010, pp.408, ISBN: 019954378X

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Dictionary of Euphemisms

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how not to say what you mean

Don’t be fooled by the title. The Dictionary of Euphemisms is much more than a collection of polite expressions. It’s also a detailed inventory of slang, sexual code terms, metaphors, evasiveness, underworld argot, and indecent language. The terms are explained, discussed, illustrated, and commented upon in a witty and it has to be said rather dryly satirical manner. The compiler is a business man who has no truck with fashionable political correctness or weak-kneed liberalism, and he takes a particular interest in the way ‘professions’ avoid speaking plainly of their doings. The obvious topics which invoke euphemism are sex, lavatories, drinking, drugs, crime, and death.

Dictionary of EuphemismsBut the not-so-obvious are commerce, politics, warfare, illness, and ideological belief. He gives an explanation of each term, a note on its origin where appropriate, and an example of its use in print. So much one might expect in a serious work of reference, but it is the additional notes which give the book its zest and resonance.

language swear words
A shortened form of bad language:

I’ll have no man usin’ language i’ my house. (D.Murray, 1886—he was not a Trappist abbot)

In America language arts is educational and sociological jargon for the ability to speak coherently.

He has no hesitation in exposing the evasions in current political correctness: African-descended = black (never used for Egyptians, Moroccans, or Boers). And he’s particularly good at reminding us of the euphemisms of everyday life:

after-shave = perfume for men;
haute cuisine = small portions of expensive food;
family = not pornographic.

He’s not without a witty turn of phrase:

bestseller a book of which the first impression is not remaindered
consultant a senior employee who has been dismissed

and he’s also good at uncovering military euphemism:

deliver to drop an explosive on an enemy
air support a military attack

Linguistically, it’s amazing how one word can be used for completely opposite meanings, and how many different meanings can be squeezed out of a single word – such as do and go.

There are lots of expressions so common you will hardly think of them as euphemisms – such as happen to in the expression ‘if anything should happen to me’ – meaning ‘to die’.

The latest fourth edition has been revised and updated to include recent coinages, there is a thematic index, and quite an interesting bibliography. This is a browser’s treasure trove. I took it on holiday and after a week’s bad weather had only got as far as letter D. It’s a must-have for anyone interested in language and the way it is used in everyday life.

© Roy Johnson 2008

Dictionary of Euphemisms   Buy the book at Amazon UK

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R.W.Holder, The Oxford Dictionary of Euphemisms, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edition 2008, pp.432, ISBN: 0199235171

DICTIONARIES

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Dictionary of Foreign Words & Phrases

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What is the plural of fez? How should we pronounce millefeuille? And where would you see a strabismus? The words can come from anywhere: the Latin, German, and French by whom we were once occupied, imports from Britain’s own former colonies, and modern coinages from around the world. The Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases includes a guide to pronunciation, over 8,000 entries, and the words and phrases are drawn from over forty languages – including Afrikaans, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, Hindustani, Latin, Malay, and Turkish.

Dictionary of Foreign Words and PhrasesIf ever you had any doubt concerning the English Language’s propensity to soak up and use words from many other languages, have a look at this amazing collection. Entries run from the Greco-Roman import abacus, a cappella, and ab initio through futon and moloch to tamagotchi and the German Zwischenzug, which didn’t mean ‘through train’ as I thought but turned out to be a chess move.

There are details of the history of each word or phrase, including its language of origin and any original spelling, and an account of its current use in English. There’s also an appendix in which the terms included are listed by their language of origin as well as the century during which they were introduced into English.

Quotations are used throughout the text to illustrate the terms in their English context. A typical example reads as follows:

deus ex machina noun phrase L17 Modern Latin (translation of Greek theos ek mekhanes, literally, ‘god from the machinery’). A power, event, or person arriving in the nick of time to solve a difficulty; a providential (often rather contrived) interposition, especially in a novel or play.

  • The ‘machine’ was originally the device by which deities were suspended above the stage in the theatre in classical antiquity. The phrase is generally used in its entirety but also occurs abbreviated to ex machina, with another agent of providence substituted for deus (see quotation 1996(2)).
    attributive 1996 Spectator The deus ex machina resolution of the drama may provide one of the most feeble denouements in all opera.
    1996 Times In this ideal scenario, growth in Europe turns up and deficits come down without anyone on this side of the Atlantic having to do anything. EMU ex machina.

This is a wonderfully rich and useful source of reference. Like most other specialist dictionaries, it profits by ommission. That is, all the obvious and boring stuff is left out. What remains is an excellent source of reference for anyone who is interested in words and their origins.

Because the entries are from such a wide variety of sources, reading continuously is a curiously refreshing experience. It might seem a bit nerdish to admit the fact, but I read the entire collection from cover to cover.

Oh, and by the way, the plural of fez is fezzes. Bet you didn’t know that.

© Roy Johnson 2010

Dictionary of Foreign Words & Phrases   Buy the book at Amazon UK

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Oxford Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd edition 2010, pp.432, ISBN: 0199543682

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Dictionary of Graphic Design

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illustrated encyclopedia of all matters related to design

This is a comprehensive guide to international developments in graphic design. From pre-industrial printing presses and medieval typography to computer graphics and avant-garde stylistic advances. The Dictionary of Graphic Design provides information about graphic designers, typographers, journals, movements and styles, organisations and schools, printers and private presses, art directors, technological advances, design studios, graphic illustrators, and poster artists. The entries are in alphabetical order ranging from the ABC system of standard paper sizes via Mackintosh and John Maeda to typographists Hermann Zapf and Piet Zwart.

Dictionary of Graphic DesignEntries are cross-referenced, and there’s also a chronological chart which outlines the relationship between movements, technology and designers around the world.This second edition has been completely revised, updated, and completely redesigned by Derek Birdsall. It includes 485 wonderfully varied illustrations which give a stunning visual record. It’s a shame they are mainly in black and white, but in such a bargain-price book I don’t suppose we can have everything.

They cover a wide range of media, including advertising, corporate identity, posters, packaging, magazine and book design, as well as fine art and illustration.

It’s very well informed and clearly based on in-depth knowledge of the subject. The authors cover all aspects of graphic design from 1840 to the present day – from William Morris, inspired by nature, and El Lissitzky’s Constructivist design, to the Designer Republic’s visuals for the music and club scene and John Maeda’s computer graphics.

There’s an illustration of almost every individual designer mentioned, and they are particularly generous towards younger contemporaries such as Mark Farrow and Peter Saville, whose work has been in CD and LP record cover design industry.

I checked out their entries on popular designers such as Neville Brody, David Carson, and Paul Rand, and all of them were spot on. The collection also introduced me to many designers whose work I recognised but who I had never heard of before.

© Roy Johnson 2004

Dictionary of Graphic Design   Buy the book at Amazon UK

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Alan and Isabella Livingston, Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers, London: Thames & Hudson, 2003, pp.239, ISBN: 0500203539

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Dictionary of Humorous Quotations

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memorable quips, bon mots, ripostes, and one-liners

There are subtle shades of distinction to be made between a saying which is funny, humorous, or witty. Funny makes you laugh, humorous produces what someone called ‘a smile in the mind’, and witty is usually associated with a rapid intellectual riposte – a nimbleness of mind. Ned Sherrin is right to call his compilation ‘humorous’. It’s probably best to ration yourself to a few pages now and again – otherwise they all tend to blend into a sort of verbal soup. But I must say I’m a sucker for these compendiums, and I couldn’t stop myself reading this one through from start to finish. It reflects Sherrin’s theatrical bent that he includes so many quotes and bon mots from the stage and its authors. Lots of Noel Coward, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, and as a wonderful camp lyricist, Cole Porter comes out well too.

Dictionary of Humorous QuotationsMae West is as quotable as ever. Commenting on the possible choice of a leading man, she observes: “Let’s forget about the six feet and talk about the seven inches”. [I learned recently that she used to work very hard writing and honing these one-liners.] Dorothy Parker is good too: “If all the girls attending the prom were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

There are also a lot of entries from song lyricists, which makes you appreciate someone like Ira Gershwin even more when you realise that he wrote the music as well as the words to But Not for Me

With love to lead the way,
I’ve found more clouds of grey
Than any Russian play
Could guarantee . . .
. . . When ev’ry happy plot
Ends with the marriage knot –
And there’s no knot for me.

There are also random gems, such as this, attributed to Dick Vosburgh: “I haven’t been so happy since the day that Reader’s Digest lost my address”. And some come anonymously out of the side field, as in “Death is nature’s way of telling you to slow down”.

There are even gnomic contributions from scientists – such as Werner Von Braun’s “Basic research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.” And I even have a sneaky admiration for George Best’s self-defense: “People say I wasted my money. I say 90 per cent went on women, fast cars, and booze. The rest I wasted.”

I didn’t realise that the expression “A camel is a horse designed by a committee” is attributed to Alex Issigonis, the Greek-born designer of the Mini – nor that the expression “The lunatics are taking over the asylum” was occasioned by the takeover of the United Artists film production company by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith.

Devotees of UK radio and TV programmes will be interested to know that there’s a whole section on catchphrases – from Mrs Mopp’s “Can I do you now, sir?” [ITMA] to “You might well think that. I couldn’t possibly comment” from House of Cards.

P.J. O’Rourke is on good form throughout the compilation, and for someone who is essentially regarded as a right-wing commentator, he can be surprisingly radical:

Wherever there is suffering, injustice and oppression, the Americans will show up, six months late, and bomb the country next to where it’s happening.

This might have been written with ironic intent, but it doesn’t strike me as being really humorous – because it is so chillingly close to the truth.

On ‘Pride’, I was glad to see that Jeanette Winterson’s self-estimation was being kept alive as a deterrent to others. She was asked to name the best living author writing in English.

No one working in the English language now comes close to my exuberance, my passion, my fidelity to words.

Not funny – not even humorous – but bracing as an example of hubris.

It’s superbly browsable, but as the nearly 5,000 quotations are grouped by more than 100 themes, it’s also a reference with practical applications.

The entries run from Acting and Advertising to Writing and Youth. Then there’s an index of authors and the topics whereon they have written. And if that’s not enough, there’s also a keyword index – so there’s no shortage of routes to what you might be looking for.

John Paul Getty’s formula for success: “Rise early. Work late. Strike oil.”

© Roy Johnson 2009

Dictionary of Humorous Quotations   Buy the book at Amazon UK

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Ned Sherrin (ed), Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edition, 2009, pp.560, ISBN: 019957006X

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Dictionary of Literary Quotations

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famous writers – on literature, authorship, and life

This Dictionary of Literary Quotations is a new and expanded edition of an acclaimed collection of over 4,400 quotations – by writers, about writers, about books and literature, and about a huge range of other related issues. The quotations on any topic are listed by date, so you can trace what writers have said about drink and drugs (for instance) from Horace in 65BC to J.C. Ballard in 1990. To locate any item, there’s a table of themes and a list of key words at the back of the book.

Dictionary of Literary Quotations Editor Peter Kemp also includes a list of authors (Ackroyd to Zola) and a key word index (abandoned to zombies) to track down what you’re looking for. But the most interesting thing is the double system of entries in the main body of the book. These include listings by writer – so you can look up what Flaubert or William Faulkner said of note on fame or earning a living – but there are also listings of what writers have said about each other.

And it’s not always complimentary. Katherine Mansfield opines that “E.M.Forster never gets any further than warming the teapot” and D.H. Lawrence says of James Joyce‘s work that it is:

Nothing but old fags and cabbage stumps of quotations from the Bible and the rest, stewed in the juice of deliberate journalism and dirty-mindedness.

But the main entries are also grouped under themes or topics – from adaptations to writing. Other subjects range from inspiration, alcohol, and censorship, to characters, travel writing, the novel, science fiction, and even the writerly task of choosing names for characters.

There are also charming interpolations, such as ‘Borrowed titles’ where works such as Antic Hay, Blithe Spirit, and Darkness Visible are given their rightful sources.

It’s an excellent collection – focussed on literary themes and related matters, but because literature takes in everything from big ideas (philosophy) to details of good style and punctuation, most people will find these quotable comments of interest.

Amongst writers who come out well are Henry James, Evelyn Waugh, and even Julian Barnes. Some are pithy and insightful – such as Scott Fitzgerald:

An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own joke.

Others make you wonder at the wisdom which comes from ‘success’ – as in Jeanette Winterson’s staggeringly vainglorious comments on being asked to name the best living author:

No one working in the English language now comes close to my exuberance, my passion, my fidelity to words.

What’s the difference, you might ask, between this and Dictionary of Quotations by Subject and the Concise Dictionary of Quotations. The answer is that this uses writers as sources, and its focus is on matters literary – all aspects of creativity, writers block, editing, publishers, style, reputation, libraries, and figures of speech. It’s a first rate example of its kind.

© Roy Johnson 2005

Dictionary of Literary Quotations   Buy the book at Amazon UK

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Peter Kemp, Dictionary of Literary Quotations, 2nd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd revised edition 2004, pp.512, ISBN: 0198662815

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Dictionary of Literary Terms

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explanations of the language of literary criticism

Do you want to know the difference between an epic poem and a tragedy? Between ‘classical’ and ‘romantic’? Between ‘naturalism’ and ‘realism’? Chris Baldick’s Dictionary of Literary Terms answers all these questions – and more besides. With entries which range from definitions of abjection to zeugma, it is in fact a guide to a mixture of old-fashioned grammatical terms, traditional drama, literary history, and textual criticism. It contains over 1,200 of the most troublesome literary terms you are likely to encounter. Some of the longer entries and explanations become like short essays on their subject.

Dictionary of Literary TermsHe also includes literary terms which have slipped into everyday use – such as ‘text’ and ‘interpretation’. He gives clear and often witty explanations of terms such as ‘hypertext’, ‘multi-accentuality’, and ‘postmodernism’. He also explains more common figures of speech such as the metaphor (straightforward) and those you can never remember such synecdoche and metonymy (can you really tell the difference between them?)

He also explains literary genres, from ‘the madrigal’ to ‘dirty realism’ and ‘the boddice ripper’, as well as offering potted accounts of theories such as structuralism and hermeneutics.

The latest (third) edition has been expanded and I was glad to see that he has added entry-level web links from OUP’s companion website to the book.

This will appeal to the general reader with an interest in literary studies, but it’s principally a useful reference for the advanced schoolroom or for undergraduates. And in fact – make that teachers too. I’ve had a copy of the first edition on my shelves for years, and I use it all the time.

© Roy Johnson 2008

Dictionary of Literary Terms Buy the book at Amazon UK

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Chris Baldick, Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms, Oxford: Oxford University Press, (third edition) 2008, pp.361, ISBN: 0199208271

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Dictionary of Media and Communications

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definitions and explanations of new media terms

Dictionary of Media and Communications is an attempt to solve an interesting problem. I once bought a dictionary of computer technology (as it was then called). It was huge, comprehensive, and was written by an expert. Twelve months later there were terms I needed to look up that simply weren’t in there. That’s how fast new language is being created in the field of information technology (as it is now called). The same is largely true for media and communications. But in the meantime publishers have realised that works of this type need their own web sites that are regularly updated.

Dictionary of Media and CommunicationsDoes this mean that dictionaries in the form of printed books are obsolete? I think not – because for most people it’s still more convenient to reach a book off the shelf to solve a problem or look up a definition. And that’s quite apart from the secondary pleasure of reference books – making those serendipitous discoveries on adjacent pages.

With definitions of 2,300 terms this is without doubt the most comprehensive in its field. But its unique selling point is that terms are defined in a variety of contexts. Nuances of a term may vary depending on its use in semiotics, sociology, or film making. Entries run from aberrant decoding and above-the-fold via McLuhanism and male gaze, to yaw, zapping, and zoom. A typical entry reads as follows:

hypertext 1. A method, devised by Berners-Lee as part of his *World Wide Web software, of embedding omni-directional *links within a given digital *text (encoded in the form of an *HTML document and displayed on a *web browser) which connect to other HTML texts without the need for extra navigation. For example, a selected word of a text document or an area of an image document is defined as a *hyperlink which, when clicked on, loads the document at that address into the browser window. Hypertext is designed to be media independent (a text can link to a sound file, an image, or even a location in a *virtual world.) which makes it a *metonym for the versatility of *digital media generally. 2.2. A visionary concept of Ted Nelson (an American new media theorist, b.1937) for a *human-computer interface in which computers present a given text from multiple viewpoints, making it a malleable object that can be ‘played with’ in order to deepen a person’s understanding. For example, a hypertext version of Hamlet’s ‘To be, or not to be’ soliloquy might consist of a standard edition of printed text, a facsimile of the earliest known version, a video recording of a performance, critical notes, and articles – all of which could be expanded from or collapsed back into the original text by clicking on a series of bi-directional links.. 3. For Genette, literary works which derive from, relate, or allude to an earlier work see also INTERTEXTUALITY. 4. Any text structured in a way that is nonlinear or non sequential, having no clear beginning, middle, and end, or in which the reader has control over the sequence. Where such texts link to others through *hyperlinks, the boundaries of the text may be blurred or the text may be perceived as unbounded.
See web links – Project Xanadu

It also has a listing of micro-biographies of major theorists and practitioners, plus a bibliography of suggested further reading. The compilers deny the existence of ‘key entries’, but many of the important entries are cross referenced and linked to the book’s web site.

The fields of reference include literary studies, semiotics, digital technology, broadcast media, journalism, film studies, psychology, and cultural theory. It’s aimed at people studying in any of these disciplines, but the definitions and explanations are accessible to the general reader.

Dictionary of Media and Communications   Buy the book at Amazon UK

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© Roy Johnson 2011

Daniel Chandler and Rod Munday, Dictionary of Media and Communication, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp.472, ISBN: 0199568758

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Dictionary of Misquotations

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What They Didn’t Say: misattributions and apocrypha

Play it again, Sam is the classic much-used phrase which is in fact a misquotation. What Ingrid Bergman actually says to Dooley Wilson in Casablanca is Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By’. And Humphrey Bogart later demonstrating his emotional stoicism, says If she can stand it, I can. Play it. But for general circulation the misquotation has stuck. This Dictionary of Misquotations is a compendium of well-known sayings, phrases, and quotations which are all inaccurate representations of the original.

Dictionary of MisquotationsThey get changed, mangled, and abbreviated for all sorts of reasons – and in many cases the later version completely obliterates the original. Sometimes they are what people mistakenly think or wish what somebody had said. What causes this to happen? Well, on seeing all these examples brought together, the answer appears to be that the misquotations are all slicker, more rounded and memorable than the originals. One example after another illustrates this point.

During the afternoon of 11 September, Jo Moore, a British government adviser, wrote a memo saying ‘It is now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury’. But it’s the much pithier a good day to bury bad news which has entered common language. Similarly, Harold Macmillan only ever mentioned ‘the opposition of events’, but the more memorable yet completely invented phrase Events, dear boy, events has been attributed to him, and it has stuck.

Charles Boyer never said Come with me to the Casbah (in fact he said the rumour had hampered his career); James Callaghan never said Crisis? What crisis?” (it was the Sun wot did it); Tarzan never said Me Tarzan – You Jane (though Johnny Weissmuller did); and Sherlock Holmes never said Elementary, my dear Watson.

You can see from the examples that there’s a tendency towards poetic repetition, parallel phrases, syntactic inversion. Mae West actually said Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me? – but it is most often quoted as pistol.

And not all are misquotations: some are complete fabrications. When working on the Times in the 1930s for instance, Claude Cockburn claimed to have mischevously written the dullest headline ever: Small earthquake in Chile. Not many dead. But no such entry has ever been traced.

So – good fun and clarification all around. And a salutary lesson that we need to take care if invoking these expressions whose origins seem so assured. This book has appeared just in time for the Xmas market, and it will make an excellent present for anyone who’s interested in language and how it is used – and misused.

© Roy Johnson 2006

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What They Didn’t Say: a Book of Misquotations, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp.153, ISBN: 0199203598

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Dictionary of Modern Design

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design, designers, products, movements, influences

This Dictionary of Modern Design is a serious textual resource on design matters, written by somebody who is quite clearly steeped in his subject. Jonathan Woodham is Professor of the History of Design at the University of Brighton, and this compendium has all the hallmarks of being a summation of a lifetime’s work. It’s an A to Z compendium of entries which run from architects and designers Alvar and Aino Aalto, through to typographer and book designer Hermann Zapf. It covers the period from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth.

Dictionary of Modern Design There are over 2,000 entries on names and movements from the past 150 years of design. The only weakness is that there are hardly any illustrations – something they might rectify in a second edition. Individual entries are a mixture of individual designers – Paul Rand, Milton Glaser, and Jan Tschichold, plus movements such as Bauhaus, Omega workshops, and Wiener Werkstatte, to specific products such as The Dyson vacuum cleaner, Levi Strauss jeans, and the bathroom fittings suppliers Villeroy and Boch.

There are also entries on materials (polypropylene) places (Museum of Modern Art) events (Festival of Britain) institutions (the Design Institute) and even individual products such as Barby, the wonder doll, plus entries on companies (Habitat, IKEA) product strategies (flatpacks) materials (Formica) typographists (Eric Gill) and even shops (Biba and Healds).

Individual entries are punctuated by occasional pull-out boxes which define movements and general terms – such as art deco, constructivism, kitsch, neo-modernism, and streamlining. The entries are presented in a plain and uncluttered prose style, with cross references to related items:

Lissitsky, El (Lazar Markovich Lissitsky 1890—1941) The Russian *Constructivist typographer, graphic designer, architect, painter, photographer and theorist El Lissitsky was influential in the dissemination of *Modernism both through his work and his theoretical writings. He studied architecture and engineering under Joseph Maria *Olbrich and others at the Technical School at Darmstadt between 1909 and 1914, visiting Paris, the hub of avant-garde artistic activity, in 1911. He moved back to Russia to practise architecture in 1914, but also worked in the fine arts and illustration, underlining notions of his concept of the ‘artist-engineer’…
[and so on]

It’s a shame there aren’t more illustrations, but there’s a huge bibliography which reflects the scholarly provenance, a timeline which puts design events from 1840 to the present into a social and political context, and a comprehensive bibliography.

© Roy Johnson 2006

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Jonathan M. Woodham, A Dictionary of Modern Design, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp.544, ISBN: 0192806394

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