AskOxford: Some Shorter quotes

Some Shorter quotes

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary uses 85,000 historical and literary quotes to bring the development of the English language to life. For the new sixth edition, more than 1,000 quotes from writers throughout the English speaking world have been added. So, for a treat, here are some of them, as selected by Angus Stevenson.

First, a small selection of authors making their debut in this edition.

Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant (The Office)
persuasion 'I was surprised (pleasantly I might add) to see you are of the female persuasion.'

Charles Bukowski
cop 'The cops caught them and threw them in jail.'

Matt Groening (The Simpsons)
skinny 'I'm here today to give you the skinny on shoplifting.'

Philip Pullman
clangour 'A loud jarring bell was filling the ship with its clangour.'

Spike Lee
mook 'Who are you gonna listen to, me or that mook?'

And now for something slightly different; some new quotes not necessarily from new authors.

Jonathan Coe
char (tea) 'The least you can do is stand me a cup of char.'

Scotland on Sunday
tribute 'They have a week to transform themselves into an Abba tribute band.'

Smithsonian
va-va-voom 'With her va-va-voom figure and cascading locks, Barbie is an American icon.'

Independent
carbon 'We all know that carbon emissions are contributing to global warming.'

David Dabydeen (Guyana)
bore 'Although largely bored by his stories, I affected an interest.'

Jumpa Lahiri (India)
chirp '"No need to worry," he chirps, putting a stethoscope to Ashima's belly.'

Jung Chang (China)
earning 'He supplemented his earnings from the bookshop with an evening job ... in a cinema.'

John Birmingham (Australia)
employment 'Colin ... was trying to work up some enthusiasm for the world of employment.'

Erna Brodber (Jamaica)
him 'Him will have to repair it.'

Zakes Mda (South Africa)
hirsute 'A very prosperous and very hirsute farmer with a beer belly.'

Fiona Kidman (New Zealand)
troppo 'You've gone troppo yourself, Jessie.'

Kate Grenville (Australia)
yarn 'My word it does a man's heart good to have a yarn.'

See more on the Sixth Edition here.

Simon Christie

18/09/2007

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