Gerry Breslin Books

A jubilant celebration of British English's most wonderful moments (and of the island nations that came up with them). We British are an eccentric population with a culture that is suitably, and uniquely, barmy. We invented trainspotting and raves; we love saying 'please' and 'thank you' to strangers in the street but then shouting at them in football grounds; we taught the world how to write great pop music but also how to make a jolly good cup of tea. From out of this higgledy-piggledy culture have emerged the thousands of brilliantly British words and phrases we use to define it. This book is a celebration of these linguistic gems, and of the people and culture they describe.

The fifth edition of this Collins dictionary and thesaurus is an essential one-stop source of help with English for all the family. With matching dictionary and thesaurus entries on the same page, this title is a must-have family reference book.

With over 80,000 references and 115,000 translations, this revised and updated dictionary covers up-to-date vocabulary, including business and computing terms. New features include treatment of frequently-used words in Spanish and English and entries explaining aspects of Spanish culture. The clear new typography makes this text easier to consult than the first edition. In addition, this dictionary retains full coverage of today's spoken and written language, thousands of constructions and idiomatic phrases, clear signposting of meanings and style level, help with pronunciation and hundreds of widely-used abbreviations and acronyms explained and translated.