From sports to politics, food to finance, aviation to engineering, to bitter disputes over simple boundaries themselves, New England’s feuds have peppered the region’s life for centuries. They’ve been raw and rowdy, sometimes high minded and humorous, and in a place renowned for its deep sense of history, often long-running and legendary. There are even some that will undoubtedly outlast the region’s ancient low stone walls. Ted Reinstein, a native New Englander and local writer, offers us fascinating stories, some known, others not so much, from the history of New England in this fun, accessible book. Bringing to life many of the fights, spats, and arguments that have, in many ways, shaped the area itself, Reinstein demonstrates what it really means to be Wicked Pissed.

Standard English has evolved and developed in many ways over the past hundred years. From pronunciation to vocabulary to grammar, this concise survey clearly documents the recent history of Standard English. Drawing on large amounts of authentic corpus data, it shows how we can track ongoing changes to the language, and demonstrates each of the major developments that have taken place. As well as taking insights from a vast body of literature, Christian Mair presents the results of his own cutting-edge research, revealing some important changes which have not been previously documented. He concludes by exploring how social and cultural factors, such as the American influence on British English, have affected Standard English in recent times. Authoritative, informative and engaging, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in language change in progress, particularly those working on English, and will be welcomed by students, researchers and language teachers alike.

Jimmy and Leo were a match blessed by The Angel of Fate. Two beautiful young men were laying naked under the sun by the shores of Lake Getchie one day long ago, about to seal a deal of perfect love. But instead of sharing a love that was meant to be, a demon fish swam along and came between them. It’s a tragedy when innocents don’t know well enough to be wary of deals with cloaked demons, for the devil’s blessings are always curses in disguise. In a moment of youthful naïveté, Jimmy is fooled into thinking he is a hero and saved the devil in disguise, and thus he had earned himself a charm reward from the demon fish. A powerful magic charm is given to him that makes everyone who looks into Jimmy’s eyes love him. And the more that everyone looked, the more that they loved Jimmy. Is there ever such an easy path that can be taken that skips over the hard work needed to create anything of truly lasting value? Is it possible that all that glitters is not gold? Can such a thing as easy love ever be a blessing? Or is love come easy always destined to be a road to ruin? Leo out of love and loyalty becomes trapped in a closet of secret love as Jimmy’s life long best friend and manager. And so the lucky demon fish ends up having captured two souls for the magical price of one. Will Leo’s love and loyalty prove stronger than the glitter of golden promises of easy love and riches? Or will the demon fish steal away the blessings of love bestowed upon the two boys by the Angel of Fate, and mock the heavens that seem to shun her? In this life and death struggle between good and evil, who shall live and who shall die? In the third volume of this illustrated series ‘The Lakeside Fairy Tales,’ we explore more of the Boystown Chicago parallel universe of ‘Center City’ through the lives and loves of her diverse community. Come share another story with me about a new love, and catch up with all of the characters from the series as all their lives and loves mix and swirl and flow together I each new story. All of them just like us, for are we not one and all but leaves in the stream? Stirred and whirled by the magic of the cosmos that reigns supreme in the vast eternal waters of The Great Lake. Come let me tell you a fairy tale and convince you that the magic of the cosmos is alive and real and in each and everyone of us.

The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang offers the ultimate record of modern, post WW2 American Slang. The 25,000 entries are accompanied by citations that authenticate the words as well as offer examples of usage from popular literature, newspapers, magazines, movies, television shows, musical lyrics, and Internet user groups. Etymology, cultural context, country of origin and the date the word was first used are also provided. In terms of content, the cultural transformations since 1945 are astounding. Television, computers, drugs, music, unpopular wars, youth movements, changing racial sensitivities and attitudes towards sex and sexuality are all substantial factors that have shaped culture and language. This new edition includes over 500 new headwords collected with citations from the last five years, a period of immense change in the English language, as well as revised existing entries with new dating and citations. No term is excluded on the grounds that it might be considered offensive as a racial, ethnic, religious, sexual or any kind of slur. This dictionary contains many entries and citations that will, and should, offend. Rich, scholarly and informative, The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English is an indispensable resource for language researchers, lexicographers and translators.

This richly imaginative, immersive, and “electrifyingly relevant” (William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author) debut novel follows a shocking disappearance amid the climate crisis of our near future—perfect for fans of Station Eleven and The Last Thing He Told Me. Emi Vargas, whose parents helped save the world, is tired of being told how lucky she is to have been born after the climate crisis. But following the public assassination of a dozen climate criminals, Emi’s mother, Kristina, disappears as a possible suspect, and Emi’s illusions of utopia are shattered. A determined Emi and her father, Larch, journey from their home in Nuuk, Greenland to New York City, now a lightly populated storm-surge outpost built from the ruins of the former metropolis. But they aren’t the only ones looking for Kristina. Thirty years earlier, Larch first came to New York with a team of volunteers to save the city from rising waters and torrential storms. Kristina was on the frontlines of a different battle, fighting massive wildfires that ravaged the western United States. They became part of a movement that changed the world­—The Great Transition—forging a new society and finding each other in process. Alternating between Emi’s desperate search for her mother and a meticulously rendered, heart-stopping account of her parents’ experiences during The Great Transition, this novel beautifully shows how our actions today determine our fate tomorrow. A triumphant debut, The Great Transition is “a book for the present and the future—read this and you will be changed” (Michelle Min Sterling, New York Times bestselling author).