Common Phrases by Cryer, Max -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Also by Max Cryer: Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION A

A-1 Absence makes the heart grow fonder Accidentally on purpose (The) affluent society Agree to disagree All dressed up and nowhere to go All of a doodah All over bar the shouting All’s fair in love and war All’s right with the world All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening (The) almighty dollar Annus horribilis Any port in a storm A-OK Apple-pie order Arm candy As fresh as paint As good as gold Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies As long as they spell my name right At this point (or At this moment) in time Axis of evil

Babes in the wood Backseat driver Backs to the wall (A) bad egg Bad hair day (The) balance of power Be afraid—be very afraid (To) beard the lion in his den (The) beautiful game Beauty is only skin deep Because it was there Beefcake Been there, done that Behind the scenes Believe it or not Below the belt Be prepared Best thing since sliced bread (It’s probably) better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in Beyond the pale (The) Big Apple Big Brother is watching you (The) bigger they are the harder they fall Bitch goddess Bite the dust (The) black dog Blood is thicker than water Bloody but unbowed Bloody Mary Blot on the landscape Blow the gaff Boredom Born-again Christian (The) boys in the back room Bread and circuses (They) broke the mold Brunch (The) buck stops here Bull in a china shop Bunch of fives Burn the midnight oil Business before pleasure Busy as a one-armed paper-hanger By hook or by crook

Call a spade a spade Canned laughter Cash register Chance would be a fine thing Chariot of fire Charm offensive Cheesecake Che sera sera (An old) chestnut Chicken feed (A) chicken in every pot Chickens come home to roost (A) chip off the old block Cleavage (formerly décolletage) Close encounters of the third kind Cold feet (The) cold shoulder Cold turkey Cold war Comes to the crunch Comparisons are odious Conventional wisdom Cooking the books (The) corridors of power Couch potato Countdown 5-4-3-2-1 Count your blessings Creative accounting Credibility gap Cried all the way to the bank Crocodile tears Curate’s egg (The) cure is worse than the complaint (The) customer is always right Cut off your nose to spite your face Cut to the chase Cyberspace

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t Darby and Joan Dark side of the moon Davy Jones’ locker Dead as a dodo Dead as a doornail (The) dead parrot Deep Throat Desperate times call for desperate measures Diamonds are forever Did you feel the earth move? Die Hard Different strokes for different folks Distance lends enchantment Doc Martens (The) domino effect Don’t call us—we’ll call you Don’t panic Down memory lane Down the tubes Do your own thing (The) dreaded lurgy

(The) Eagle has landed Ear candy Eat my hat Economical with the truth Egg on your face Eight days a week Elementary, my dear Watson Elephants never forget Elvis has left the building Eskimo pie (The) Establishment Eureka! Everybody’s doing it Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it Every man has his price Extraterrestrial

Fall on your feet (The) family that prays together stays together Famous for being famous Famous for fifteen minutes Far from the madding crowd Fast and loose Fasten your seat-belts—it’s going to be a bumpy night Fate worse than death Fellow traveler (The) female of the species is more deadly than the male Few and far between First catch your hare First Lady Fish and visitors go off in three days Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee Flogging (beating) a dead horse Fools rush in where angels fear to tread Foreign muck Fresh as a daisy From cradle to grave

Gentrification Get a life Get off my back Get someone’s back up Ghostwriters Ginormous Glittering prizes Global village Go ahead, make my day Gobbledygook Gobsmacked God helps those who help themselves Go down like a lead balloon Going for a song Going-going-gone! Golden handshake Goldfinger Golliwog Gone with the wind (A) good career move (A) good innings (A) good man is hard to find (A) good time was had by all Google Go the whole hog Grace under pressure Grandfather clock Granny Smith Grassroots (The) great unwashed Gridlock Grin like a Cheshire cat Grotty Guinea pigs

Halcyon days Happy ever after Have a nice day Head over heels Hear no evil, see no evil Here comes the bride He’s just not that into you He who can does, he who cannot teaches He who hesitates is lost Hit the nail on the head Ho ho ho Hold the fort Hollow men Hollywood Home James and don’t spare the horses Hot under the collar How’s your father How the other half lives Humble abode

I can see Russia from my house I couldn’t care less I did it my way If I’m not in the obituaries, I get up If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad then Muhammad must go to the mountain If you can’t beat them, join them If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen Ignoramus I have a cunning plan I have a dream I kid you not In a nutshell In a rut In one ear and out the other Inside every fat man there is a thin man (To be) in someone’s black books Insomnia In the doghouse In the lap of the gods Iron curtain I shall lose no time in reading it I smell a rat It goes with the territory It’s a great life if you don’t weaken It’s all part of life’s rich pageant It seemed like a good idea at the time It’s the thought that counts It was a dark and stormy night Ivory tower I want to be alone

Jack of all trades Jumbo

Keeping up with the Joneses Kettle of fish King Kong Knee high to a grasshopper Knock off (work) Know the ropes (To) know what’s what

(The) Lady with the Lamp Lame duck (As) large as life (and twice as natural) (The) last laugh Last, loneliest, loveliest Laugh on the other side of one’s face (A) legend in his own lunchtime (or lunch hour) Let sleeping dogs lie Let them eat cake (A) license to print money (A) lick and a promise Lie back and think of England Life begins at forty Like a bear with a sore head Like a house on fire Like it or lump it Little grey cells Live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse Lock, stock, and barrel Lock the stable (or barn) door after the horse is stolen (or has bolted) Long hot summer Loose cannon Lounge lizard Lunatic fringe (The) lunatics have taken over the asylum

Mad as a hatter Make a hash of it Make haste slowly Making a mountain out of a molehill Male bonding Many happy returns Marches to a different drum (The) medium is the message Metrosexual Middle Earth Midnight cowboy (The) Mile-High Club Mince your words (The) moment of truth Monarch of all I survey Mondegreen Money makes the world go around Money talks (The) moral majority More bang for your buck Motel Movers and shakers Ms. Muck-raking Mumbo jumbo My better half My heart was in my mouth My husband and I My lips are sealed

Naff off Namby pamby (A) nation of shopkeepers Navel gazing Nerd Never look a gift horse in the mouth Never-never land Never say never (The) new black Nice work if you can get it No brainer No great shakes No more Mr. Nice Guy No news is good news No pain, no gain Nose out of joint No such thing as a free lunch Not a penny more, not a penny less Nothing comes from nothing No time like the present Not in my back yard Not turn a hair Not what it’s cracked up to be No woman can be too rich or too thin Nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say no more

Old Glory Old soldiers never die On a razor’s edge One good turn deserves another (That’s) one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind One-upmanship (The) only thing we have to fear is fear itself Only ... shopping days until Christmas On one’s last legs On the grapevine (The) opera’s not over until the fat lady sings Other fish to fry Out of kilter Out of sight, out of mind Out of the frying pan into the fire (The) oxygen of publicity (Do not eat) oysters in a month with no “r”

Parking meter (The) patter of little feet Peace for our time (The) people’s princess Perish the thought Personal computer Pie in the sky Pigs might fly Pillars of society (A) place for everything and everything in its place Plain as the nose on your face Planned obsolescence Pleased as Punch Poke fun at (The) policemen are getting younger Pouring oil on troubled waters Power is a great aphrodisiac Pragmatism (The) price of everything and the value of nothing (The) Proms Pull all the stops out Pull my leg Pull your finger out (Let the) punishment fit the crime Purple prose

(On the) qt

Read my lips Reality television Rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic Red sky at night . . . shepherd’s delight Red tape Robot Rock and roll (A) rolling stone gathers no moss Room at the top Rose-colored glasses (A) rough diamond Royal walkabout Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (A) rum go

Sacred cow Sally Lunn Salome (Being) savaged by a dead sheep Say it with flowers Scientist Screw loose Self-help Sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll She who must be obeyed Shop till you drop Shut your face Significant other Six degrees of separation Six of one and half a dozen of the other Skating on thin ice Skeleton in the cupboard Sledging Slept her way to the middle Small but perfectly formed Small fry Smoking gun Smooth-shaven Snug as a bug in a rug Sober as a judge Spam Speak softly and carry a big stick Spill the beans (The) squeaky wheel gets the grease (The) stately homes of England State of the art Steal my thunder (A) stiff upper lip Storm in a teacup Straight from the horse’s mouth Strictly for the birds Strike while the iron is hot Superman Supermarket Supermodel Suppose they gave a war and nobody came Survival of the fittest Suspension of disbelief Svengali

Tabloid journalism Take care of number one Take down a peg Take the cake Taking an early bath (or shower) Teach your grandmother to suck eggs Teddy bears (The) Teflon President (or Prime Minister, CEO, MP, Senator . . . ) There but for the grace of God go I There’s no accounting for taste There’s no place like home Thick as thieves Things aren’t what they used to be Things that go bump in the night Third World Thirty days has September Throw the baby out with the bathwater Throw the book Throw your hat in the ring Till the cows come home Time is money Tin pan alley To a T Today is the first day of the rest of your life Toe rag To err is human, to forgive divine Tom and Jerry Tomorrow is another day Tongue in cheek Too clever by half Took to my heels To the victor the spoils Touch and go Trophy wife Truth is stranger than fiction TTFN (Ta-ta for now) Tweedledum and Tweedledee Two countries separated by the same language

Ugly as sin Ugly duckling Uncle Sam Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all Underdog and Top dog Under the weather United Nations (The) usual suspects

Vamp Variety is the spice of life Viewer Virtual reality

(A) walk on the wild side Warts and all We are not amused Weasel words (A) week is a long time in politics We have ways of making you talk Well he would, wouldn’t he? Wendy Went phut Wham bam, thank you ma’am What you see is what you get When in Rome, do as the Romans do When the going gets tough the tough get going When you get what you want you don’t want it When you’ve got it—flaunt it! While there’s life, there’s hope (The) whole shebang Who wants to be a millionaire? Why should the devil have all the good tunes? (The) wild blue yonder Window-shopping (A) woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle Word for word Would you buy a used car from this man?

Yadda Yadda Yahoo Yes man You ain’t heard nothing yet You are what you eat You can’t be serious . . . you cannot be serious You can’t have your cake and eat it too You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs You can’t take it with you You get what you pay for You’ll never work in this town again You pay your money and you take your choice Your country needs you

The last word

Shakespeare

Sources

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