Polite English

A fresh and fascinating look at politeness and the important role it plays in our work, relationships and lives, from professor and pioneer of Politeness Theory, Louise Mullany 'Fascinating and insightful. I'm grateful to have read it, and pleased to have learnt so much in the process. I would -...

If you want to finally understand British slang, banter, and polite put‑downs, keep reading. Or don’t. Honestly, most Brits would prefer you didn’t. Have you ever heard a British phrase that sounded perfectly polite—yet somehow felt like a warning? Perhaps you love British TV but keep missing the subtext. Or maybe you just enjoy British humor and suspect you’re not always in on the joke. (You’re not.) If so, this book is for you. Or at least, it’s for people who think buying a book about British slang is a good idea. This isn’t a dictionary. Dictionaries are for people who ...

Nobody saw this coming. Not me. Not the elders. Certainly not my dear Hanwarra. Never before have the Dorf people lost an entire clan. A betrayal so deep, those who are left will never forgive, nor forget. It's time for the Dorfs to go to war. Yet somehow it has fallen to me, to lead them. Worst of all, Garnet was prepared. I may be his catalyst, but his plans were already in motion. The wheels of war turn slowly. The enemy is prepared. So it's up to me and my wives to figure out a way to make this work. All under the nose of those we thought buried.

Winifred is blunt, opinionated, and outrageously colorful. In a community that demands domesticity, she simply doesn’t fit. When her wealthy husband suddenly dies, Winifred’s fellow society housewives no longer have a reason to play nice. Cast out entirely, Winifred throws roaring parties for the clerks and waiters that serve the town, finding the connections she’s been craving—and upsetting the gentle balance of her elite neighborhood in the process.

What if racism isn’t always loud… but still just as damaging? Letter to America: Racism is a direct, unfiltered reflection on one of the most misunderstood and often minimized issues in modern society. Written by a U.S. Navy Veteran, this powerful letter challenges the idea that racism must be aggressive to be real and exposes the uncomfortable truth about “polite” bias, silent assumptions, and everyday behaviors that continue to divide us. Inside this letter, you’ll discover: Why racism is not limited to any one race, culture, or group The dangerous myth of “harmless” or “...

“This terrific debut lifts the veil on the charming old city of Charleston and a prominent Lowcountry family to deliver an entertaining story about becoming yourself without totally rejecting your past. Plus: debutante balls! I love this novel.” —Lauren Weisberger, #1 New York Times...

I never thought, after all those fantasy novels. That I would ever live through one. My name is Tobias Conner-Kyanite. And yeah. That name is still something I’m not quite used to yet. Most of this was an accident. But not a regret. Not even a little. I’d like to say, that boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl and boy marries girl. Unfortunately, or I like to think, fortunately.

I am the narrator of this book, which means I am to haul you through every polite disaster inside it and receive precisely none of the credit. Now they have decided I should also sell it, as though I were not busy keeping everyone from lying in the same sentence. Beatrix Langford arrives at a country observatory to do the sensible work, copy figures, reconcile ledgers, and let titled people feel clever beneath a dome with a slit like a watchful eye. Then Lady Honoria Pemberton falls down her own staircase, very dramatically and quite dead, leaving behind an irritable ghost who refuses to be...

England, 1926. Just days before Lord Darriby-Jones is scheduled to enlighten the world at the Annual Limacology Symposium, his secretary unceremoniously bids adieu to her employment. It's now up to Lady Darriby-Jones to find a replacement. In a twist of fate, she stumbles upon a commoner from a neighboring town willing to accept the role, despite the slug-dismantling duties that await him. He's positively thrilled at the chance to rub elbows with true aristocrats, even if his job involves less glamorous endeavors.

Education can be transformed if we eradicate our fixation on big data like standardized test scores as the supreme measure of equity and learning. Instead of the focus being on “fixing” and “filling” academic gaps, we must envision and rebuild the system from the student up—with classrooms, schools and systems built around students’ brilliance, cultural wealth, and intellectual potential. Street data reminds us that what is measurable is not the same as what is valuable and that data can be humanizing, liberatory and healing.

In the 40-second century, the cure for death isn't made in a lab, it's stolen from a nightmare. Spark is a biological narcotic that halts aging, but it refuses to grow in captivity. It cannot be farmed, synthesized, or controlled. It blooms in the twisting, lethal jungles of the planet Wesley, a world overrun by mutated leviathans that rule the food chain.

Queering the Ton: The Hidden Rules of Queer Survival in Polite Society A Revelatory Look at Gender and Sexuality in Georgian and Victorian Britain Hidden desires. Scandalous affairs. The secret lives of the elite. In the glittering salons and shadowed corridors of Georgian and Victorian Britain, a hidden world of queer love and longing quietly defied the rigid rules of polite society. Queering the Ton pulls back the velvet curtain to reveal the untold stories of those who loved in secret—and sometimes, in defiance. From the flamboyant fashion of Regency dandies to the intimate letters ...

Once Second Prince of the mightiest kingdom in the known world, Othrun now leads the last survivors of his exiled people into an uncertain future far across the Shimmering Sea from their ancestral home, now lost beneath the waves. With his Single God binding his knights to chivalric oaths, intent on wiping out idolatry and pagan worship, they will have to carve out a new kingdom on this mysterious continent that has for centuries been ravaged by warlords competing for supremacy and mages channeling the mystic powers of the elements, and unite the continent under godly rule.

I’m not going home. Of that, I am certain. And anyway, who would want to? Folotelyn Kyanite is the best thing that ever happened to me. She’s kind, caring, drop dead gorgeous and with her best friend, and my second wife, Alfofida, the beautiful, intelligent inventor. Well, they make one hell of a pair. The politics of this world be damned. I’ve got things settling in pretty well right now. Except after delivering the badly wounded Kiggaelin to her father. I was sent back with Elder Obsidian to seal the tunnel and cement my permanence on this world. All the while, Kiggaelin was at home, dying.

In this dazzling debut, Taylor M. Polites crafts a Southern gothic novel that mines classic literary archetypes while shaping them in new ways. Set in Reconstruction-era Alabama, The Rebel Wife opens with Augusta Branson losing her husband to a terrible blood fever. Now she and her son must fend for themselves in a community being destroyed by violence.

"So funny, smart, sophisticated, and captivating, you just want to spend your whole life with it."--Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians In this modern reimagining of Jane Austen's Emma, Delhi's polite society is often anything but polite. Beautiful, clever, and more than a little bored, Ania...

Then you're in for a treat. Volume three of our popular anthology series is sure to scratch that questionable itch. With stories by Michael Knost, William Joseph Roberts, Philip K. Booker, Christopher Woods, D. Raymond Smith, David Badurina, H.P. Holo, James Palmer, Jason Cordova, Lee Ellis, M Leigh, Michael Morton, Michael Craig, and Guest Editorial by Faith Hunter.

Discipline is a vital part of child-rearing, but many parents misunderstand how to use it and attempt to control their child's behaviour via a combination of punishment and motivation. Yet while this traditional approach may appear to produce quick results, it can potentially damage the child and, in the long term, leave parents with a far worse problem than they had initially. The Gentle Discipline Book analyses common discipline techniques and explains why so many are ineffective.

While Lady Violet Belmaine is busy sorting out the odd turns her life has recently taken, Hugh St. Sevier repairs to his Kent estate in hopes of embarking on the placid life of a rural physician. Alas, for St. Sevier, the village of St. Ivo has more secrets than it has pots of heartease, and the good doctor will once again find himself the target of rumors and threats. Somebody is rigging St. Ivo’s hound races, setting neighbor against neighbor, and turning what should be a friendly entertainment into an occasion for brawling.

Bill Maher first came to national attention as the host of the hit program Politically Incorrect, in which he offered a combustible mixture of irreverence and acerbic humor that garnered him a loyal following. In his popular and long-running HBO television show, Real Time with Bill Maher, his reputation for being a hilarious provocateur continues. One particular segment of the show—"New Rules"—strikes a chord with viewers every week. In this collection, Maher brings these brilliantly conceived riffs to audio, along with some singularly Maher-ian "editorials".