Totally Square
I'm continuing with the exercises from Brian Curtis's book "Drawing from Observation" - this one is part of the exercise in drawing cubes in perspective.
And what kinds of cubes do I have? Books, of course!
The book set in the middle is a dictionary/thesaurus combo that was left behind by a departing co-worker (I guess they didn't need... ummm... words... at their new job). The other boxed set is my well worn hard cover copy of "The Lord of the Rings". And in the bottom left, (picked up at The Strand Book Store in NYC for 48 cents) "Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases" by (compiled by?) Grenville Kleiser, published in 1917.
Yes, it's 15,000 different phases that one may or may not find useful, broken into several categories:
Useful Phrases - "declamatory treatment", "legendary associations", "vacillating obedience"
Significant Phrases - "transfuse and irradiate" (how often is that likely to come up? Particularly in 1917?)
Felicitous Phrases: "urgent, tumultuous, and incomprehensible" (like many of these phrases)
Impressive Phrases:"fop, coxcomb, puppy, and jackanapes" (or, if you're txting, FCPJ.)
Business Phrases: "we have not had the pleasure of placing your name on our ledgers" (I still haven't figured out if that's a good thing or not...).
Literary Expressions: "a broad, complacent, admiring imbecility breathed from his nose and lips" (file under "insults unlikely to be understood by the insultee)
Conversational Phrases "Do not the circumstances justify it?" (it's difficult to imagine any circumstances justifying the phrases in this book)
Public-Speaking Phrases: "it is needless before this audience to repeat" (which undoubtably preceded an 40 minute repetition).
and the ever-popular :
Miscellaneous Phrases: "marvelous copiousness of illustration" (which you could certainly accuse this list of being).
I'll bet William Strunk HATED this book.
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