July - English Book of the Month
Jumping Sharks and Dropping Mics- Modern idioms and where they come from by Gareth Carrol.
I first heard about this book when listening to a BBC Radio 4 programme called Word of Mouth which is a series exploring the world of words and the ways in which we use them. It’s hosted by the wonderful Michael Rosen, a British children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster and activist.
In this particular episode Rosen talks to Senior Lecturer in Psycholinguistics, Dr Gareth Carrol who is author of the book Jumping Sharks and Dropping Mics- Modern idioms and where they come from.
You can listen to the episode about modern English idioms here.
The book itself explores the background and history of many modern idioms. Do you know what it means if something Breaks the Internet? Have you ever had a Sliding Doors Moment? Would you Take One for the Team?
The idioms covered in this book are largely rooted popular culture such as TV, movies, sport and of course the Internet.
If you don’t want to splash out (to splash out is a phrasal verb meaning to spend money freely) on the book itself, don’t worry, I’ll be covering some of these idioms on my Instagram feed.
