Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions: Making Sense of Transatlantic EnglishOxford University Press, 2003 - 305 ページ Americans and Britons are exposed to unedited texts, scripts, and speech from one another's dialects at an unprecedented and accelerating rate. Most people have no trouble understanding the general meaning of language in the other dialect, but readers and listeners very often fail to understand or misunderstand critical words, references, and allusions for lack of familiarity of the social and cultural contexts that underlie various usages. This book remedies this gap in understanding by cataloguing the differences that language users on either side of the Atlantic are likely to encounter in their dealings with the other dialect. By taking a culturally neutral stance it addresses the needs of both British and American readers and listeners. The thematic organization of the book allows the user to access language differences in various subject areas, where words likely to be needed at the same time can all be found together. Chapters include; Politics, Law, and Government; Business and Money; Medicine and Healthcare; Education; Food, Clothing, and Shelter; Transportation; Sports; and Profanity and Obscenity, in addition to basic information on orthography, weights and measures, etc. The appendices and extensive index provide a ready point of entry for quick look-ups, and there will be an extra chapter on Canadian, Australian, and Asian English. |
目次
Preface | 1 |
Acknowledgments | 9 |
Introduction | 11 |
The Arrangement of Letters | 19 |
A Choice of Words | 35 |
Money Business and Work | 57 |
The Government and the Law | 82 |
Education | 113 |
Transportation | 179 |
Sports and Leisure | 192 |
What You Dont Say | 218 |
The Stuff of Life | 228 |
APPENDICES | 265 |
Other Major Dialects | 267 |
Idioms and Phrasal Verbs | 275 |
Measures and Numbers | 280 |
Sickness and Health | 129 |
Food Clothing and Shelter | 143 |
The Transatlantic Calendar | 285 |
Resources | 289 |
多く使われている語句
abbreviation adjective alects Ameri American and British American Eng American English American English equivalent American spellings associated Australian English ball bank bat cricket batsman Britain British Eng British English Britons cake called Canadian English chapter common compounds contexts count noun countries court cricket degree denote designate dialects dictionaries federal field functional equivalent healthcare holiday idiom informal institutions language lish mainly major dialects meaning Mighty Fine Words National normally noted noun one’s organized Oxford particular person Phrasal Verbs phrase play player police political preferred programs readers retronym score slang Smashing Expressions sometimes South African English speakers standard street terminology tion trade trademark transatlantic typically Union usage usually variants various verb wicket Words and Smashing