THE FACTS ON FILE DICTIONARY OF CLICHES 2nd edition, 2006 by Christine Ammer
For any of you who do any speaking in public, this book would be an excellent addition to your personal library. For that matter, anyone who speaks--even in private--can benefit from seeing just how much of our common spoken language consists of cliches.
Those of us who are tuned in to language in general, and speaking in particular, tend to denigrate cliches, and we cringe mightily when we hear certain of those word-blobs used over and over again. However, cliches are actually rather useful at times. They are a sort of verbal shorthand--a brief way to describe an action or situation which everyone understands.
Ms. Ammer, while defining the meanings underlying cliches, has given us a wealth of knowledge including tantalizing bits of the history of cultures, the arts and of language.
The expressions "scared silly", "shaking in my shoes"--all too familiar to some public speakers--come down to us from 1800. "Truth be told", which we most often hear now as "to tell the truth" was used in the mid-1300's. "Way to go" first popped up as a sports term in the 1960's. And don't you want to know about "beyond the pale"?
The book is indexed by the cliches themselves, along with their permutations, so it's very efficient to use.
It's difficult to lay the book aside; another and yet another little cliche description catches your eye. It's like peanuts--hard to stop with just one.
Carole McMichaels, public speaker, coach, musician, author: Fearless Public Speaking: How to Get Rid of Your Stage Fright and Prepare and Deliver a Winning Presentation. Please visit her blog at and go to her website
to download your free report, "7 Valuable Tips on Writing a Mind-Gripping Speech".
Source: www.articlesbase.com