Dictionary Of English Idioms

Ah yes, Dictionary of English Idioms — because why say something plainly when you could instead let the cat out of the bag, throw the baby out with the bathwater, and then wonder who on earth put them there in the first place?

Daphne M. Gulland and David Hinds-Howell have assembled a gloriously peculiar catalogue of the English language at its most illogical. This is not about grammar, structure, or anything remotely sensible. This is about phrases that make perfect sense to native speakers and absolutely none to anyone else. It is, in short, a guide to the secret handshake of English: a language where you can be “over the moon”, “under the weather”, and “on the fence” all in the same afternoon without moving an inch.

Every page is a reminder that English evolved less like a system and more like a long series of misunderstandings that everyone politely agreed to keep using. Want to know why something “costs an arm and a leg”? Or why you should never “count your chickens”? Or what it means to “kick the bucket” without alarming the neighbours? This book stands ready to explain it all, calmly and without judgement.

There is something deeply reassuring about a reference book that acknowledges just how strange everyday speech really is. It does not fix the chaos — it simply maps it, like a linguistic field guide to the habits of a very eccentric species.

This Penguin Reference edition is in Good condition, as sold by Crappy Old Books. A sturdy, well-travelled companion for writers, language learners, crossword enthusiasts, and anyone who has ever paused mid-sentence and thought, “Why do we say that?”

A thoroughly useful collection of nonsense — and all the better for it.

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