United States or Mayotte ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
A curious American colloquialism, of which I certainly cannot see the advantage, in the substitution of "yep," or "yup" for "yes," and of "nope" for "no." No doubt we have in England the coster's "yuss;" but one hears even educated Americans now and then using "yep," or some other corruption of "yes," scarcely to be indicated by the ordinary alphabetical symbols. It seems to me a pity.
He shaded his eyes with his hand and turned to his bosom friend Eagle Trott: "What exactly do those islands remind you of?" he asked. Eagle looked down bashfully. "I'd rather not say," he replied. At this Joshua slapped him heartily on the back. "Stap me," he cried, using a colloquialism of the period, "if I do not name them the Rude Islands."
Cappy relapsed into the colloquialism of the younger generation with which he was wont to associate at luncheon. "Surest thing you know," he said. "If I may be permitted a criticism, Mr. Ricks " "You may not." "Your sentimental leaning toward your fellow townsman may be the cause of losing one of the best paying ships of the fleet." "Forget it, Skinner!" "Oh, very well. You're the boss, Mr. Ricks.
How illustrative of monosyllabic effect, of sonorous Latin, of the phraseology of science, of metaphysic, of colloquialism even, are the writings of Tennyson; yet with what a fine, fastidious scholarship throughout! A scholar writing for the scholarly, he will of course leave something to the willing intelligence of his reader.
"Personally, I dislike these Alma Tadema girls." "What the men see," Betty said, curling around the better part of two straight dining chairs, in the moment of relaxation that followed the final disposition of the business of the day, "in a girl like that first one is one of the mysteries of existence." "I know it," Nancy agreed, with New England colloquialism.
I confess I was disappointed in you and I count you my right-hand man." The speech of the educated man, in Mr. Zurich, was overlaid with colloquialism and strange idiom, made a second tongue by long familiarity. "Your left-hand man!" Dewing made the correction with great composure.
"I draw five shillings from the British Prisoners' Relief Fund, which I never spend because I don't want it, and one week's draw might just as well pay for this job!" I was so exasperated by this cool confession from the "P.-G." our colloquialism for a pro-German that I whipped round my bench and confronted the amiable traitor.
There comes a time when some slang almost ceases to be slang, and though good writers will not use it in writing, quite serious people will use it in merely speaking. It has passed out of the stage of mere slang to become a "colloquialism."
In his case the colloquialism must be taken literally; he really was thinking about breakfast, as he thought about every conscious act of his life when time allowed deliberation. He reflected that on the preceding day the excitement and activity following upon the discovery of the corpse had disorganized his appetite and led to his taking considerably less nourishment than usual.
Mr Gale was distinguished by a blunter mode of speech; he discoursed with open-air vigour, making use now and then of a racy colloquialism which the other would hardly have permitted himself. As young Warricombe had foreseen, the seats obtainable were none too advantageous; only on one of the highest rows of the amphitheatre could they at length establish themselves.
Word Of The Day