"Civil words!" cried the girl, whose passion was frightful to see. "Civil words, you villain! Yes, you deserve 'em from me. I thieved for you when I was a child not half as old as this!" pointing to Oliver. "I have been in the same trade, and in the same service, for twelve years since. Don't you know it? Speak out! Don't you know it?"
Fagin was right, of course, we must have them. English is rich in civil words for uncivil things: there is a list here of “minced oaths” (words or phrases used to avoid swearing: Blimey!). There are also lists of phrases in other sub-groups, including: Popular Fallacies, Biblical, Shakespeare, Misheard Song Lyrics and Made in the USA (e.g. Full as an Alabama tick). You can look up euphemisms generally in a Phrase Dictionary which provides an A-Z index. All these riches and many more are to be found in The Phrase Finder, one of those websites where you drop in for a quick browse and then realise after a bit that it’s 3am.
6 comments:
How WONDERFUL! Just like Brewer's Dictionary but online...
Minerva
But Min, Brewer is on line, here
P.S. But actually Brewer isn't much good, is he? I looked up a couple of his definitions at random and they are just plain wrong.
Thank you for trying to rescue me Tony but the fact is that I am still embarrassed that I didn't spot that... *sigh*
Minerva
And Tony, so were many of Dr Johnson's definitions but it was still a wonderful book. I feel the same way about Brewer's..
Sorry, Min, if you put Brewer and Johnson in the same class I have to disagree with you. What the clergyman and failed academic Brewer produced is just a curiosity (useful, as one reviewer wrote, for understanding the titles of Victorian paintings); if the first two definitions I looked up were (badly) wrong, then it must be full of errors.
Johnson, on the other hand, made few downright errors, though much of what he wrote is naturally out-dated. He did of course make one famous one, famously excused.
Also, Johnson was witty and a joy to read, while E Cobham Brewer was a po-faced old bore.
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