A Dictionary of Euphemisms (Oxford Quick Reference) - Softcover

Holder, R. W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199235171 ISBN 13: 9780199235179

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2008

Synopsis

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.

About this title

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. --Stephanie Gold

About the Author

R. W. Holder is a business executive and life-long lover of words. The director of numerous companies, he speaks several languages, and travels widely. He is also the author of Thinking About Management.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0199235171
• ISBN 13: 9780199235179
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 432