Table Of ContentAn Asperger Dictionary of Everyday Expressions
also by Ian Stuart-Hamilton
The Psychology of Ageing
An Introduction, 4th Edition
ISBN-13: 978 1 84310 426 1
ISBN-10: 1 84310 426 1
of related interest
Asperger’s Syndrome
A Guide for Parents and Professionals
Tony Attwood
Foreword by Lorna Wing
ISBN-13: 978 1 85302 577 8
ISBN-10: 1 85302 577 1
The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome
Tony Attwood
ISBN-13: 978 1 84310 495 7
ISBN-10: 1 84310 495 4
Pretending to be Normal
Living with Asperger’s Syndrome
Liane Holliday Willey
Foreword by Tony Attwood
ISBN-13: 978 1 85302 749 9
ISBN-10: 1 85302 749 9
What Did You Say? What Do You Mean?
An Illustrated Guide to Understanding Metaphors
Jude Welton
Illustrated by Jane Telford
ISBN-13: 978 1 84310 207 6
ISBN-10: 1 84310 207 2
An Asperger Dictionary
of Everyday Expressions
Second Edition
Ian Stuart-Hamilton
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
First edition published in 2004
This edition published in 2007
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
116 Pentonville Road
London N1 9JB, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Ian Stuart-Hamilton 2007
The right of Ian Stuart-Hamilton to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including
photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally
to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in
accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a
licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1T
4LP. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication
should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for
damages and criminal prosecution.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Stuart-Hamilton, Ian.
An Asperger dictionary of everyday expressions / Ian Stuart-Hamilton. -- 2nd ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-84310-518-3 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 1-84310-518-7 (pbk.)
1. Asperger's syndrome--Patients--Language--Dictionaries. 2. English language--Idioms--Dictionaries. I. Title.
RC553.A88S865 2007
616.85'8832003--dc22
2006034311
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-13: 978 1 84310 518 3
ISBN-10: 1 84310 518 7
ISBN pdf eBook: 1 84642 578 6
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Athenaeum Press, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
To Chirpy, Sunshine, Tikka,
Heimat, Flip and Flap
Introduction
It is well documented that people with Asperger’s syndrome and other autism
spectrum disorders have difficulty interpreting everyday phrases that must be
interpreted symbolically rather than literally. For example, a little bird told me liter-
ally implies that a bird assumed the powers of speech and gave information,
whilst the symbolic meaning is of course rather different.
1 However, it is worth
noting that everyone can have problems with dealing with phrases like this from
time to time. In practical terms, the only difference between someone with
Asperger’s syndrome and someone without it is the frequency with which this
occurs.
Dealing with this problem is itself difficult. The most obvious solution is to
not interpret any phrase literally. However, not only is it the most obvious, it is
also the most stupid. This would make unambiguous language impossible to
understand. Advising people to use context to interpret the symbolic meaning of
something that is nonsensical if interpreted literally is likewise unworkable, even
for someone with very high linguistic skills.
Arguably the only practical solution is to use a dictionary such as this, which
gives definitions of at least the commoner everyday phrases. The phrases I have
chosen for inclusion are ones that appear to be the most often used amongst UK
English speakers. There are a considerable number of common American English
phrases, and some Australian phrases as well. Together, they cover the majority of
the everyday phrases that are potentially confusing for English speakers in most
countries. There are of course many other phrases that could have been included,
but arguably this is a case of diminishing returns. In other words, it was either a
dictionary this size or a truly enormous one (at least four times the size) with
many of the phrases being very rare indeed. In making my selections, I chose not
to include the following:
1.
Contemporary slang, for the simple reason that most of it lasts a few
months and then is replaced by other slang.
7
1
The meaning of a little bird told me and other phrases used in the Introduction
are given in the dictionary.
2.
A lot of classical and literary references, on the grounds that these
cause everybody problems, and there is a large problem of where to stop.
This is meant to be a dictionary of commonly used idiomatic phrases,
not quotations. Where phrases that are in fact quotations (e.g. salt of the
earth) are included, it is usually because they are such a part of
everyday speech that most people are probably unaware that they are
quotations.
3.
Phrases that are largely historical and/or little used.
4.
Specialist slang from occupations and professions, unless it is so
common that it has entered everyday speech (e.g. pyramid selling).
5.
Phrases which really are self-evident (e.g. ‘fast as a hare’ simply means
fast).
6.
Single ambiguous words (e.g. ‘gay’), for the simple reason that about
half the words in an ordinary dictionary fall into this category, and this
is intended to be a relatively portable book!
Inevitably there will be phrases that have been missed from this dictionary that
should have been included. This is the fate of every dictionary compiler in
history. Future editions will attempt to amend wrongs, but please do not contact
me with suggestions. This is not because I do not value readers’ comments (far
from it), but unsolicited suggestions create a difficult problem of copyright.
A detailed guide to using the dictionary is provided in the next section of this
book. I have tried as far as possible to keep things simple and intuitive. Thus,
phrases are usually listed as they are spoken, with key words from the phrase pro-
viding references back to the phrase.
In finishing this Introduction, I hope that this book is of use to people with
Asperger’s syndrome, or of course anyone else who is puzzled by an apparently
nonsensical phrase.
8 / AN ASPERGER DICTIONARY OF EVERYDAY EXPRESSIONS
A guide to using the dictionary
(1) Absence of definite and indefinite articles
Entries are without definite and indefinite articles (‘the’, ‘an’, etc.). For example,
‘the real McCoy’ is entered as real McCoy.
(2) Phrases are usually listed as they are spoken
Entries are as far as possible done as they would be spoken. For example, ‘after
their blood’ is entered as after their blood, not blood, after their. Where I have felt
there could be difficulties in finding the phrase by this method, I have included
directions to it using other key words (e.g. walkonair is also referenced under air).
(3) Key part of phrases
Where there are several similar variants of the same phrase, I have usually simply
entered the key part of the phrase; for example, there are various phrases like ‘a
man after my own heart’, ‘a boy after their own heart’, etc. The key part of the
phrase is after their own heart, and this is the phrase that is provided by this dictio-
nary.
(4) Use of their
Phrases usually can be used to describe or apply to a variety of people. For
example, the phrase ‘after their blood’ can be used in the forms ‘after his blood’,
‘after our blood’, ‘after my blood’, ‘after their blood’, ‘after her blood’, ‘after its
blood’, ‘after one’s blood’ and ‘after your blood’. Rather than have entries for
each phrase, I have simply included one – namely, after their blood. In nearly all
cases, I have used ‘their’ in preference to ‘one’, ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘its’, etc. This is because
‘their’ is arguably the most ‘neutral’ form. However, when ‘their’ is used, ‘her’,
‘his’, etc. can be substituted in. Where a phrase is given with something other than
‘their’ (e.g. areyousittingcomfortably?) then this is because the phrase is usually only
heard in this form.
9
