Three centuries of English idioms—their unusual origins and unexpected interpretations To pay through the nose. Raining cats and dogs. By hook or by crook. Curry favor. Drink like a fish. Eat crow. We hear such phrases every day, but this book is the first truly all-encompassing etymological guide to both their meanings and origins. Spanning more than three centuries, Take My Word for It is a fascinating, one-of-a-kind window into the surprisingly short history of idioms in English. Widely known for his studies of word origins, Anatoly Liberman explains more than one thousand idioms, both popular and obscure, occurring in both American and British standard English and including many regional expressions. The origins, and even the precise meaning, of most idioms are often obscure and lost in history. Based on a critical analysis of countless conjectures, with exact, in-depth references (rare in the literature on the subject), Take My Word for It provides not only a large corpus of idiomatic phrases but also a vast bibliography. Detailed indexes and a thesaurus make the content accessible at a glance, and Liberman’s introduction and conclusion add historical dimensions. The result of decades of research by a leading authority, this book is both instructive and absorbing for scholars and general readers, who won’t find another resource as comparable in scope or based on data even remotely as exhaustive.

Written with humor and wit, Take My Word For It is a collection of original poetry divided into five sections: Critters, Limericks, Feathered Friends, Haiku, and Commonalities. The verses, composed of true facts, enable readers to learn in a delightful way and tickle the funny bone of youngsters and teenagers as well as parents and teachers who read the poems aloud.

"Australia's king of young adult fiction" The Australian Lisa Morris could be the girl next door. She could be your cousin. She could be sitting behind you in class. She could be you. But Lisa, cool and beautiful Lisa, remote and private Lisa, has more going on in her life than anyone imagines. Only her journal knows the truth about her life. Only her journal - and you. Fans of Veronica Roth, Suzanne Collins and John Flanagan will love John Marsden.

In an innovative critique of traditional approaches to autobiography, Anne E. Goldman convincingly demonstrates that ethnic women can and do speak for themselves, even in the most unlikely contexts. Citing a wide variety of nontraditional texts—including the cookbooks of Nuevo Mexicanas, African American memoirs of midwifery and healing, and Jewish women's histories of the garment industry—Goldman illustrates how American women have asserted their ethnic identities and made their voices heard over and sometimes against the interests of publishers, editors, and readers. While the dominant culture has interpreted works of ethnic literature as representative of a people rather than an individual, the working women of this study insist upon their own agency in narrating rich and complicated self-portraits.

Sequel to the award-winning TSo Much To Tell You', which covers the same period as that book through Lisa's diary, including Marina's story and the stories of other girls in the Year 9 dormintory. The author has written five other novels for adolescents, including TLetters from the Inside'.

Ralph Thompson's memoir is a fascinating record of a long and full life lived jointly in the worlds of art, literature and business. From a pre-war childhood in colonial Jamaica, Take My Word For It is full of rich insights into both the personal and Jamaica emerging into difficult modernity. Take My Word For It offers rich insights into the long and full life of one of one of Jamaica's finest poets who has also been at the heart of the island's economic and commercial development. There are moving and sometimes comic chapters of a pre-war boyhood in colonial Jamaica in a far from prosperous white and Catholic Jamaican family, the years spent at the Jesuit college of Fordham in the USA, and postwar service in the United States Airforce, serving in Japan. Thereafter Ralph Thompson tells the story of a life at the heart of Jamaica's development of tourism, capitalist modernity and the leadership of Seprod, one of the island's largest companies. There are fascinating glimpses of involvement with Jamaica's sharply divided political life -- between Michael Manley and Edward Seaga. But along with the businessman who can convey something of the excitement of commercial strategy and take-over bids, there is also the artist and poet who has explored the inner life, not least the position of a white man in a Jamaica whose decolonisation has been in part about discovering its black identity. Ralph Thompson has long had a passionate concern with the quality of the education on offer to all Jamaicans, and he writes with feeling about his contribution to the debate around educational issues and practical attempts to make improvements. There is also the loyal supporter of Derek Walcott's Trinidad Theatre Workshop who did much to bring that theatre to wider Caribbean and American notice, who writes about his friendship with Walcott with warmth and insight. Amply illustrated with photographs, images of Thompson's paintings and extracts from his poetry, Take My Word For It is a beautifully and frankly written record of a significant Jamaican life.

Includes material on slang, jargon, neologisms, and readers' letters.