Listellany
Subtitle: a Miscellany of Very British Top Tens, From Politics to Pop
Publisher: Elliott & Thompson; Elliott & Thompson, Limited
Published: 2014
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 173
ISBN-13: 9781783960057
Subjects: Handbooks, vade-mecums; Trivia; REFERENCE; Encyclopedias
Description: Which are the books that people buy but never read?*Discover the answers to this and other essential questions in Listellany. This is NOT a fact-based compendium. It''s purely opinion - the opinions of John Rentoul, his readers - and, yes, Twitter. Eccentric and eclectic, this is a book for pub debaters, list boffins and language lovers up and down the land: come inside and join the debate. Every week in the Independent on Sunday John Rentoul publishes a top ten based on suggestions from the great British public. Now collected together for the first time, and featuring previously unpublished list.
Table of contents: title: Cover; Title; Contents; Top ten reasons to read this book (or 'The Introduction'); 1. Underrated family films; 2. Plurals that have become singular; 3. Footnotes; 4. Malapropisms; 5. Signs with double meanings; 6. Surprisingly unrelated pairs of words; 7. First sentences of novels; 8. Last sentences of novels; 9. Words that used to mean the opposite; 10. Words with opposite meanings; 11. Fictional villains; 12. Upbeat songs that tell a sad story; 13. Genuine shop names; 14. Mixed metaphors; 15. Lost positives; 16. Tautologous abbreviations; 17. Examples of journalese.; title: 18. Most interesting politicians19. Spoonerisms; 20. Tautologies; 21. Translated tautologies; 22. Songs that mean the opposite of what most people think; 23. Unexpected etymologies; 24. Most English remarks of all time; 25. Misused fables; 26. Palindromes; 27. Words used only with one other word; 28. English Monarchs 1066-1707; 29. Unisex names of MPs; 30. Ways of defeating the Daleks; 31. Anagrams; 32. Most beautiful British railway journeys; 33. New clichés that should be banned; 34. Phrases that ought to be off the menu; 35. Words that ought to be used more often.; title: 36. Party conference speeches37. Great bands with terrible names; 38. Films panned as turkeys that are actually quite good; 39. Political myths; 40. Original titles of novels; 41. Douglas Adams quotations; 42. Questions to which the answer is no; 43. Transpositions of sounds in words; 44. Words that lost or gained an 'N'; 45. Stupid car names; 46. Unsung villains; 47. Laws of life; 48. Political heckles; 49. Best British place names; 50. Most overrated 1960s bands; 51. Best prime ministers we never had; 52. Visual clichés; 53. Useful words for which there is no English equivalent.; title: 54. Politicians not known by their first name 9155. Books people buy but don't read; 56. American footballers' names; 57. Misquotations; 58. Worst Beatles songs; 59. Surnames that have died out; 60. Everyday lies; 61. Recurring news stories; 62. Yiddish words; 63. Elegant variations; 64. Great unremarked changes of our lifetime; Top ten lists that didn't make it; Top ten people to whom I am grateful (otherwise known as 'The Acknowledgements'); Contributions and nominations; Copyright.