A Sea of Sand, a Sahara of Snow: A Collocations Dictionary of Contemporary Figurative Language 2026
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| Title: | A Sea of Sand, a Sahara of Snow: A Collocations Dictionary of Contemporary Figurative Language 2026 |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Joseph Gagen Stockdale III |
| Source: | Online Submission. 2026. |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Page Count: | 1884 |
| Publication Date: | 2026 |
| Intended Audience: | Teachers; Students |
| Document Type: | Reference Materials - Vocabularies/Classifications |
| Descriptors: | Figurative Language, Language Usage, Second Language Learning, English (Second Language), Vocabulary, Dictionaries, Pragmatics, Multimedia Materials, Grammar |
| Abstract: | "A Sea of Sand, a Sahara of Snow: A Collocations Dictionary of Contemporary Figurative Language 2026" is a resource for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers and their adult students who may wish to go beyond the literal definitions of vocabulary items to include figurative usages. It records common non-literal usages of words from A to Z, along with their collocates. Non-literal usages in this work include metaphors, epithets, archetypes, symbols, proper nouns, idioms, allusions, proverbs, analogies, hyperbole, metonymy, euphemisms, insults, neologisms, and portmanteau words. Entries include all parts of speech, as well as prefixes and suffixes. Implicit in the work are notions such as dead metaphors, semantic change, language transfer, variation (linguistics), dialects, concept inflation (PTSD can apply to everyone, including animals), pragmatics, derived terms, and cliché structures (X is the new Y). Also implicit are the drivers of language legitimization such as corporate advertising, government grants, and politicians. Non-literal usages are contrasted with their literal usages to revivify so-called dead metaphors, with a special emphasis on "military" words. On a personal computer (PC), the navigation pane allows users to look up words and go to their entries faster than they could with a physical dictionary, and users can always search for a word or phrase. Careful attribution means that the user on an internet-connected PC or a teacher in a classroom equipped with an internet-connected smartboard can highlight, right-click, and immediately go to a source on the internet. These links--and there are thousands of them--might lead to a linguist talking about a word or words, a newspaper or magazine article, or a song or video clip on YouTube. So, this is also a multimedia dictionary. In terms of contemporary language, thought, and world events, this dictionary is up to date through spring of 2026, a turbulent time in American and world history. The novel, non-traditional labels and tags used throughout help teachers and students make sense of and evaluate these non-literal usages: these labels and tags are listed and explained in the introduction of this work. The most important insight revealed by this work is just how much language and thought is expressed by the non-literal use of words. For language teaching and learning--traditionally divided into grammar and vocabulary--this dictionary constitutes the third coast, or the third pole, or one of the poles of inaccessibility. For the thesaurus of this work, consult ED648945, "A Dictionary and Thesaurus of Contemporary Figurative Language and Metaphor 2024." This work may also be of interest to ESL/EFL teacher-trainers, lexicographers, and linguists of various stripes. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | ED679644 |
| Database: | ERIC |
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