IN A PICKLE And Other Funny Idioms

by Marvin Terban ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 1983

IDIOM/To be a wet blanket/MEANING/To be a spoilsport. To discourage someone's plans./A person can sometimes smother a. small fire by tossing a wet blanket over it./ Suppose you're excited about doing something that you think will be fun. But your friend says it would be boring. Your friend is being a ""wet blanket"" because he or she is dampening your enthusiasm."" In similar dogged dead-earnest, Terban proceeds to kill and autopsy ""Butterflies in the stomach,"" ""Open a can of worms,"" ""Your eyes are bigger than your stomach,"" ""a chip off the old block,"" ""Don't cry over spilled milk,"" and about two dozen other mostly self-evident idioms. In a few cases--""white elephant""; ""to give someone the cold shoulder""--Terban calls up some ancient custom to explain the term; but these snippets of lore are no compensation for the general soggy-blanket exposition.

Pub Date: April 18, 1983

ISBN: 0618830014

Page Count: -

Publisher: Clarion/Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1983

Categories: NONFICTION