Judy Parkinson (1)

Who doesn't use:

Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November,
all the rest have thirty-one...

to remind themselves which months have 30, 31 or 28 days?

This book is nothing but mnemonics like the above, for just about everything: spelling, grammar, mathematics, history, science, health and a few other odds and ends.

My mom used to teach me mnemonics as a little kid; mostly for spelling. (Geography and Mississippi.) My dad taught me one for weather. They were incredibly helpful for a kid trying to remember things that felt huge. The geography and weather mnemonics, or variations of them, made it into the book, but am I the only one who learned how to spell Mississippi by saying:

M, I, crooked-letter, crooked-letter, I, crooked-letter, crooked-letter, I, hump-back, hump-back, I?

Anyway, this was a fun, quick read for a language lover and there were quite a few useful aides here for future Trivial Pursuit challenges.… (mere)

This is a cracking little book: it may be read cover to cover in little more than an hour - even by a reading sloth such as my good self.

Sometimes, I find that I get lost in an area of history and struggle to connect it to the big picture. This is where this tome is invaluable. Just one word of warning, it is just a tad, "Britain the great Empire builder can do no wrong" in its approach but, a healthy dose of cynicism can deal with that.

Definitely worth a place on the bookshelf - and it will soon become a well thumbed friend.… (mere)

Spilling the Beans on the Cat’s Pajamas by Judy Parkinson is a short volume of explanations and stories about some of the best loved, well used expressions that we use in daily life. Phrases such as “the apple of my eye”, “talking turkey”, and “put a sock in it” are colorful additions to our language and this small volume tells us where they came from and how they were introduced.

From advertising to Shakespeare, Homer to social networking our ever flexible language has absorbed these picturesque phrases and added them into our daily lexicon. Even here on Library Thing we use certain phrases to enhance our communications with each other, after all haven’t we all been “hit with a book bullet” or two on this site?

While this book barely scratches the surface of popular quips and phrases, it’s a diverting and clever read for anyone who enjoys learning about language.… (mere)