The long-awaited follow-up to Football Clichés, Adam Hurrey's cult classic about the language of football. "Adam Hurrey is the best observer of football culture in the world. He has a knack for either encapsulating something that's always nagged at you or nailing something you can't believe you haven't noticed before." Elis James "The funniest, smartest book on the language of football. It sends out a message, silences the doubters and lets its football do the talking ... a Rolls-Royce of a book." David Goldblatt *** Does language evolve? Yes, it does. Will it ever be acceptable for a football commentator to call a shot that bounces before it goes in 'a screamer'? No, it will not. As the self-appointed world expert on the subject, Adam Hurrey sets off to define the definitive rules of the language of football. He will answer the big questions such as: is it acceptable to say a player is 'breaking their silence' (it's complicated), can headers can be 'lashed' (anatomically impossible), whether a penalty shootout could ever be described as 'late drama' (truly abhorrent), how many games constitute a 'bumper' day of Premier League action (minimum of eight) and just how big a deficit constitutes 'a mountain to climb' (certainly not Liverpool going 1-0 down at home to Wolves in the third minute, Sky Sports). Along the way, Hurrey examines some case studies of how the football media has reached saturation point - the transfer rumour mill, the futile art of big-match previewing, the rise of (and backlash against) football jargon - and how its language has evolved to keep the machine going. Have we let the football lexicon spiral out of control? In finding out, this book will be exactly as gloriously pedantic as it sounds.

The long-awaited follow-up to Football ClichésAdam Hurrey's cult classic about the language of football. Does language evolve? Yes, it does. Will it ever be acceptable for a football commentator to call a shot that bounces before it goes in 'a screamer'? No, it will not. With tongue firmly-in-cheek, Adam Hurrey sets off to define the definitive rules of the language of football. He will answer the big questions such as: Is it acceptable to say a player is 'breaking their silence' (it's complicated), can headers can be 'lashed' (anatomically impossible), whether a penalty shootout could ever be described as 'late drama' (truly abhorrent), how many games constitute a 'bumper' day of Premier League action (minimum of eight) and just how big a deficit constitutes 'a mountain to climb' (certainly not Liverpool going 1-0 down at home to Wolves in the third minute, Sky Sports.) Playful yet deadly serious, follow Hurrey as he rules on countless infringements - both glaring and subtle - of football's linguistic laws.

A fun, intelligent, and useful guide to understanding the nuanced language of soccer Every week, year-round, legions of devoted soccer fans across the country rise at the crack of dawn or quietly sneak out of work to watch their favorite teams play across the pond—complete with a soundtrack of two cheeky Englishmen spouting a stream of trite phrases and curious words that make maddeningly little sense. They’ll chat about flying teacups and cultured left feet, or point out a player who’s jinking through the corridor of uncertainty, hoping to bag one with aplomb. Confused? Many Brits are, too. In Football Clichés, London-based soccer writer Adam Hurrey amusingly translates the idioms of the sport, from the quaint to the ridiculous. Here you’ll find words for parts of the field and parts of the body; for ways to score a goal and ways to run, walk, or fake an injury. You’ll learn to read the shifting moods of fans at a soccer match and encounter the game’s oddly expressive gestures, which include the muted celebration and the beleaguered manager clap. Perfect for the die-hard or fair-weather fan, Football Clichés celebrates the world of soccer in all its glory.

A wonderfully insightful analysis of the language of soccer from the creator of footballcliches.comIn what other context do soccer fans use the words "aplomb" or "derisory"? Why don't we use "rifle" as a verb on the other six days of the week? Why do aggrieved midfielders feel the instinctive need to make a giant ball-shaped gesture with both hands after a mistimed tackle is punished? The more Adam Hurrey watched the sport, the more he began to spot the recurring mannerisms, behaviors, opinions, and iconography that were mindlessly repeated in thesports media. Some cliches are ridiculous, some are hilariouslyoutdated, some have survived through their sheer indisputability. Here, featuring gloriously pseudo-scientific diagrams and the inimitable writing style that made footballcliches.com a smash hit, they are covered in all their glory."

'The perfect antidote to 2020' Huffington Post 'A must-read if you like funny things' Greg James 'I had no idea Pat Sharp's life story would be so hilarious and I strongly suspect neither did he' Nish Kumar Pat Sharp is a man out of time. For those of a certain generation, he is an iconic figure synonymous with good fun, great hair and excess gunge. For others, he's just that bloke with a mullet. Fame is a fickle beast and, since the cancellation of Fun House in 1999 ('Just ten years into its run, when it was finally finding its feet'), Pat has become a reclusive figure, only emerging from his splendid isolation to pop up on things like I'm A Celebrity: Get Me Out Of Here, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Come Dine with Me. Until now. With time on his hands and now reliant on a faulty memory, Pat has expertly blended fact and . . . fiction: revealing all about his adventures with David Hassselhoff at the Berlin Wall in 1989; how he broke up a fight between Damon Albarn and Liam Gallagher at a house party; the time he suggested Geri's dress be a Union Jack; and much more. A definitive work (based on very little fact) that anatomises the cultural trends of the '80s and '90s, Re-run the Fun is just the kind of sorta-biography we need in these turbulent times. Finally, the Great British public can learn what life is like just about in sight of the top - the highs, the lows and the hair tips. 'It's easy to forget, as I had, that Pat Sharp is so much more than an iconic haircut and a helter-skelter - and this well overdue book goes into hilarious, largely-fabricated detail about Pat's critical role in shaping our world today' Rick Edwards 'No previous knowledge of Pat Sharp is required' Paul Sinha

"[The Doloriad] just might be what your rotten little heart deserves." —J. Robert Lennon, The New York Times Book Review Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by i-D, Cosmopolitan, Thrillist, Lit Reactor, and Lit Hub, and one of Nylon's March 2022 Books to Add to Your Reading List Macabre, provocative, depraved, and unforgettable, The Doloriad marks the debut of Missouri Williams, a terrifyingly original new voice In the wake of a mysterious environmental cataclysm that has wiped out the rest of humankind, the Matriarch, her brother, and the family descended from their incest cling to existence on the edges of a deserted city. The Matriarch, ruling with fear and force, dreams of starting humanity over again, though her children are not so certain. Together the family scavenges supplies and attempts to cultivate the poisoned earth. For entertainment, they watch old VHS tapes of a TV show in which a problem-solving medieval saint faces down a sequence of logical and ethical dilemmas. But one day the Matriarch dreams of another group of survivors and sends away one of her daughters, the legless Dolores, as a marriage offering. When Dolores returns the next day, her reappearance triggers the breakdown of the Matriarch’s fragile order, and the control she wields over their sprawling family begins to weaken. Told in extraordinary, intricate prose that moves with a life of its own, and at times striking with the power of physical force, Missouri Williams’s debut novel is a blazingly original document of depravity and salvation. Gothic and strange, moving and disquieting, and often hilarious, The Doloriad stares down, with narrowed eyes, humanity’s unbreakable commitment to life.

This First World War classic novel is written in the first person by a young German soldier, Paul Bauer. Only eighteen when he is pressured by his family, friends and society in general, to enlist and fight at the front, he enters the army with six school friends, each filled with optimistic and patriotic thoughts. Within a few months they are all old men, in mind if not completely in body. They witness such horrors and endure such severe hardship and suffering, that they are unable to even speak about it to anyone but each other. The 1930 film adaptation won two Academy Award.