Preview
  • Spilling the Beans on the Cat's Pyjamas

  • Popular Expressions - What They Mean and Where We Got Them
  • By: Judy Parkinson
  • Narrated by: Kim Hicks
  • Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (2 ratings)

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Spilling the Beans on the Cat's Pyjamas

By: Judy Parkinson
Narrated by: Kim Hicks
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Publisher's summary

You wouldn’t be ‘barking mad’ if, when asked the definition of certain phrases, ‘the cat got your tongue’ and you ‘clammed up’. Let’s not ‘beat around the bush’; the English language is littered with linguistic quirks that, on closer examination, seem utterly fantastical. In Spilling the Beans on the Cat’s Pyjamas, Judy Parkinson explores the many colourful – but rather incomprehensible – phrases that enhance our language, describing their origins and defining their true meanings.

©2000 Michael O'Mara Books Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
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What listeners say about Spilling the Beans on the Cat's Pyjamas

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Great source!

a fun and easy source to get thinking on why we say the things we say..

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A spoken A-Z listing

I expected a listing of common and popular expressions and their sources and meanings being explained and expanded. I hoped that some form of connection would be made and that each one would lead into a story and the explanation of another expression. Unfortunately it was read in strictly alphabetical order with no connecting passages. It ended up being a very flat listen although I did actually learn some interesting things even if it still was effectively just a list.

Not really recommended - it could have been done so much better.

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