Books about Cliches from Amazon.com

"The best kind of reference book--one that amuses as it instructs I fell for it hook, line, and sinker."
CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALERR
IN A NUTSHELL, here's a terrific A TO Z listing of the meanings and origins of over 2,000 common or particularly interesting cliches for everyone who delights in the pleasure of words..
Price: $3.29 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This brief guide to writing the essay and writing across the curriculum is indeed true to its title. It offers excellent advice on developing and polishing prose, with an emphasis on style and process--all with wit, charm, and intelligence..
Price: $38.88 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The cliché is " ... the bad guy of the English language. Furthermore it is the worst kind of bad guy--the bad guy that used to be a good guy before it suffered a fall from grace or, in the case of the cliché, a fall from freshness " Was this always so? Is originality of usage a classic value or a more recent one? In an exhaustive, 10-page introduction to Clichés: Over 1,500 Phrases Explored and Explained, lexicographer Betty Kirkpatrick presents a fascinating history of the classification of this linguistic category as well as of various aspects of language, illustrating its elasticity and ongoing evolution.

For the literal thinker, it may be satisfying to know that the word cliché comes from the French clicer, meaning "to stereotype" (a printing term), but a succinct and consensual definition? No can do. Clichés are, Kirkpatrick contends, "impossible to pigeonhole."

Designating such categories as quotations and misquotations, euphemistic clichés, catchphrases, vogue expressions, or buzzwords, Kirkpatrick has assembled 207 pages of commentary on the subject. For all of the wrath and ridicule expended on it, the cliché, to coin a phrase, is as old as the hills.

Look up as old as the hills in Betty Kirkpatrick's Clichés and you'll find the phrase, its history, and examples of its usage. You'll want to keep this entertaining dictionary in your reference library for when your dinner guest asks, "What is the shape of things to come?" You'll be able to provide two thought-provoking answers, the first of which will come from your copy of Clichés; the second may come from your tarot..
Price: $11.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book is intended to help people who want to "spice up" the way they talk. It is especially effective for people whose native languages are not English Verbal metaphors used in appropriate contexts can serve business, social, psychological and cultural purposes. Each metaphor occupies one page which makes learning consistent and easy. Each page has a cartoon and a text portion that consists of four categories of information: meaning, alternative, origin and usage..
Price: $18.60 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A brilliant and scathing polemic about the sorry state of the English Language and what we can—and must—do about it.

When was the last time you heard a politician use words that rang with truth and meaning? Do your eyes glaze over when you read a letter from your bank or insurance company addressing you as a valued customer? Does your mind shut down when your employer starts talking about making a commitment going forward or enhancing your key competencies? Are you enervated by in terms of, irritated by impactful, infuriated by downsizing, rightsizing, decruiting, and dejobbing? Does business process re-engineering and attriting fail to give you ramp-up—in terms of your personal lifestyle?

Today’s corporations, news media, education departments—and, perhaps most troubling, politicians—speak to us and to each other in clichéd, impenetrable, lifeless babble. Toni Morrison has called it the “disabled and disabling” language of the powerful, “evacuated language,” and “dead language.” Orwell called it “anesthetic” language. In Death Sentences, Don Watson takes up the fight against it: the pestilence of bullet points, the dearth of verbs, the buzzwords, the weasel words and cant, the Newspeak of a kind Orwell could not have imagined.

Published in Australia in November 2003, Death Sentences gained a massive following among the legions of bright, sensitive people who Could Not Take It Anymore. More than a year later, it remains a national bestseller.

Praise:

“An important read for anyone who holds language dear.”
–Lucy Clark, Daily Telegraph

“The Book of the Year… witty, erudite, and funny. Awfully funny.”
–The Australian Financial Review

“Nobody writes more lyrically or cares more about words and those who murder them.”
–Sydney Morning Herald

“Witty, excoriating, and horrifying, [DEATH SENTENCE] should be every politician’s, academic’s, businessman’s, journalist’s, and bureaucrat’s choice for book of the year— and, alas, the era.”
–Robert Drewe, “Books of the Year,” The Age

“…should leave us afraid, very afraid… Anyone involved in writing for public consumption should read it—and sooner rather than later.”
–Frances Wilkins, Lawyers Weekly

“…obliterates the vernacular vandals among journalists, academics, politicians, and business people with deadly aim.”
–Murray Waldren, Australian

“Brilliant… tempered by sorrow.”
–Peter Price, Bulletin

“…an amusing and stimulating book. Watson’s writing is the antithesis of all he deplores: it is humane and welcoming.”
–James Ley, Age

“Watson writes well—passionately, fiercely, with generous sprinkles of wit and vitriol… Expect an entertaining ride.”
–Ruth Wajnryb,
Sydney Morning Herald


“…scathingly funny and deadly serious.”
–Jose Borghino, Marie Claire

“A book of unusual significance, a meditation on our times as much as a work on language… [it] will still be read—and enjoyed—in 50 years’ time.”
–Jim Davidson, Eureka Street

“Always lucid and witty… a resource of painful delight.”
–John McLaren, Overla.
Price: $0.45 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Language of Baseball is a lexicon of slang terms, clichés, and expressions surrounding the grate game of baseball. Defined are over 2,001 quick hitting, concise, and descriptive terms. The descriptions of baseball's vocabulary are simple enough for a child to understand, yet sophisticated enough to avoid insulting the intelligence of the most ardent fan. From the sandlots to the big leagues, this book will be an enjoyable resource for the rookie fan to the most passionate aficionado of the "Grand Ole Game". Included you will find humors cartoons portraying some maxims within the baseball sub-culture. From the oldest jargon to the most current terminology surrounding baseball, The Language of Baseball has all of the bases covered!.
Price: $9.01 [Notify me when price goes down.]