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A Dictionary of Cliches: With an Introductory Essay
by Eric Partridge
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Routledge (1978-01)
ISBN: 0710000499
EAN: 9780710000491
Binding/Media: Paperback - 261 pages
Edition: 5th
SKU: 9AA1-023-6-0708
Condition: G
Comments: EX-LIBRARY with typical stickers and markings; Spine has been reinforced by library; Clean body of text; Covers somewhat creased; Pages toning slightly with age; Corners and ends of spine lightly bumped; Tight copy. *International Buyers Welcome!* (except for prohibitively heavy items, as noted) - Satisfied customers in over 40 countries! We ship quickly and guarantee satisfaction. Your purchase helps support a U. Chicago student
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
This work is full of things better left unsaid: hackneyed phrases, idioms battered into senselessness, infuriating Gallicisms, once-familiar quotations and tags from the ancient classics. It makes a formidable list, amplified as it is with definitions, sources, and indications of the cliches, venerability in every case.
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Amazon.com Review
Clichés, the "coin(s) so battered by use as to be defaced," are anathema to Eric Partridge. He says, "their ubiquity is remarkable and rather frightening," and while he likens proverbs to expressions of wisdom, he says, clichés are instances of "inanition." They all sound familiar, for such is the nature of the cliché. What, for example, does "in the event of an emergency" add, beyond verbosity, instead of "in an emergency"? And so, from "abject apology" to "your guess is as good as mine," he lists, explains, and categorizes more than 2,000 trite and tired phrases to avoid "at all costs."
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Customer Reviews
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A more comprehensive title to consider
Rating  (4)
Date: 2010-04-07
I haven't read Partidge's "Dictionary of Cliches" (the four stars is for the concept), but I just ordered a more comprehensive similar book called "The Facts on File Dictionary of Cliches" by Christine Ammer. Partridge cites 2,000 examples. By contrast, Ammer lists twice as many. No matter which book you choose, such a dictionary is indispensable to anyone who loves words, cares about the language, writes or edits for a living or has aspirations to write the Great American Novel. I spent the last 14 years as a professional copy editor and am now engaged in writing a first novel. I am meticulous to the point of anal-retentiveness, but cliches still creep into my writing -- so surreptitiously that they sometimes slip past me. I would speculate that every writer has exactly the same problem. A dictionary like Ammer's or Partridge's is the equivalent of a can of Raid to ferret out those miscreants and kill them dead. In answer to the earlier reviewer, even smart people can lapse into falling back on cliches. Because they are so insidious and widespread, they are at the forefront of our minds whenever we write just about anything. A dictionary of cliches can help keep you vigilant and on your guard.
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Not a bad book but what's the point?
Rating  (3)
Date: 2000-09-24
3 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
As always, Eric Partridge does a first class job putting this book together. But why do we need a dictionary of cliches? Partridge says so that we know what phrases to avoid using at all costs. Well, if you're not smart enough to know the phrase you're using is a cliche, you're definitely not the type of person who will read this book.This book does make for a good bathroom reader, though.
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