Idioms are always difficult. For people learning English as second language this is even harder. This book offers a detail list of idioms that people often use, with their meanings and examples. Using this book along with the "NTC's Dictionary of American Slang" helps to develop your skills in understand the way American speaks that not always is taught in school. The book is clear, perfect. I'm happy to have it in my bookcase.

I thought I knew English pretty well. But when I came to Canada and had a chance to talk to people whose first language was English, I realized that sometimes I just can't get what they mean. When someone says "I'm off the hook" what does he really mean, was he "hanging" from a hook!! After realizing that I went to a bookstore and started searching for something which would help me in this regard. Then I came across this book and after a glance, I decided to buy it. It's been more than two years and I'm still happy that I bought this dictionary. Even though I know a lot many idioms now, I still refer to this book almost daily. And it has never disappointed me!!

This is a book that will bring pleasure to polyglots and be a treasure trove of ideas for translators, linguists, and philosophers. Makkai's thesis is that poetry written in languages other than the original must be a creative reinterpretration, not merely a translation, analogous to a musical theme and variations. He calls this "anasemic writing" and in a series of clever,informal and often highly amusing hypothetical Platonic-type dialogues between himself, a 20th-century scholar, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (to whom the book is dedicated and whose poem "Ein Gleiches" and its ninety-six versions in eight different languages are used as examples), he explores the great 18th-century writer's theories of world literature. Following the dialogues is a more technical analysis of anasemic writing, a discussion of modern linguistics and its relation to literary translation, and more multilingual poetry, along with some really beautiful illustrations. Too bad this book is out of print!

It is a nice handbook,handy and small to carry around, however it is a littl too brief.