A Dictionary of Euphemisms (Oxford Paperback Reference) | 
 enlarge | Author: R. W. Holder
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 431545
Media: Paperback
Edition: 4
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0199235171
Dewey Decimal Number: 423
EAN: 9780199235179
ASIN: 0199235171
Publication Date: October 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new book delivered from the UK in 10-14 days.
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Amazon.com Review
Language is more frequently used to disguise or temper what one means to say rather than telling it like it is, at least that's how it seems when looking through the 5,000 or so euphemisms compiled by R.W. Holder. There are colorful phrases ("bury a quaker" for defecate, "buy a brewery" for become an alcoholic), slang terms ("crib" for brothel), and terms that obfuscate a negative reality (saying "convivial" when meaning habitually drunken or "corrective training" for political imprisonment). Useful for writers, linguists, and students of human behavior, the euphemisms are arranged alphabetically, but cross-indexed thematically. So if you want to know what "foul ane" means, you can look it up directly and find it's a Scottish reference to the devil, but if you're looking for a juicy alternative for "death," the index provides "cop a packet," "suck daisy roots," and "come home feet first." Serving as both a dictionary and a comprehensive thesaurus of idioms, it's a useful as well as entertaining semantic resource. I--Stephanie Gold/I
Product Description
This thoroughly updated paperback marks 20 years of R. W. Holder's popular and successful dictionary of euphemisms, offering a delightful collection of jocular and evasive expressions for sex, death, murder, crime, prison, and much more. Here are almost five thousand euphemistic expressions listed in alphabetical order, ranging from well-known favorites to less amusing expressions from the bureaucratic and military world. For each word or expression, Holder includes examples from real authors, along with entertaining explanations of the word's origins and meaning. New to this edition are over 250 new entries and fourteen introductory articles on major themes in euphemistic language, such as business, sex, death, and the human body. The book includes an extensive thematic index which groups words together under topics such as Age, Bankruptcy, Bribery, Copulation, Funerals, Killing and Suicide, Low Intelligence, Politics, and Warfare. From "five-fingered discount" to "surgical strike," here is a wonderful collection of colorful words and phrases that allow us to avoid life's unpleasantness, as well as add spice and humor to our everyday speech.
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| Customer Reviews:
This book is what it says it is December 14, 2008
Norman Strojny (western desert of Utah)
This book is a good addition to other references for the English language. However, it is, primarily, British in tone and in the material included. Also, some American non-sexual but illicit meanings seem to have entirely escaped the authors. Finally, there is a slight tendency toward prissiness in definitions in some areas where an American might give an even blunter definition. br /
mix 'em up thru speech August 22, 2000
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is a fun book. I like to bandy about some of these phrases and watch the reaction. Words are important and when you use phrases people are not used to hearing, well, you get their attention.
Say What You Mean--Or Use A Euphemism August 9, 2000
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Author, R. W. Holder holds fast to two tests of a euphemism: 1) It must be a substitute for blunt precision or disagreeable truth 2) That a euphemism once meant, or still does mean, something else entirely different. In short, a way to be politically correct. A softer, kinder, way of speech so to speak.pIn this work of almost 500 pages, we learn the art of not saying what we mean. Some are almost common language now. Such as bowel movement, working girl, Native American and downsizing. Newer ones include, white knuckler and vertically challenged ( a nice way to say your boss is short)pI enjoy the way this is cross indexed and arranged. I did notice that a great percentage of the material is British. I wonder if that means the Brits are very good at mums the word? Seriously, I downrated the review a bit due to that fact.pFilled with thousands of of quotations, definitions, derivations, and historical explanations, this dictionary is extremely comprehensive for perusing.pA good editon for reference collections.p-CDS-
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