idiomen & woordcombinaties

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Notes

1. (BrE) throw a spanner in the works / (AmE) throw a wrench in the works (zie ook “Techniek”, note 1)
Voorbeelden (AmE) throw a wrench, en varianten daarop:
He wasn’t a happy camper. His oldest daughter had thrown a wrench in his retirement plans. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence, chapter 35)
– it could sure put a monkey wrench in his business. (Elmore Leonard, Glitz, chapter14)
– Like a wrench waiting to be wedged into the cogs of my case. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 15)
– That would’ve thrown a big monkey wrench in their plan, so Franklin had to be taken out. (David Baldacci, The Camel Club, chapter 57)
The social side of work is the grease that keeps the wheels turn smoothly. Handle it badly, however, and it becomes the wrench in the works.” (Emily Post’s Etiquette, 17the dition, p. 759)

Vergelijk (AmE) throw a glitch into …:
– Obviously it’s thrown a glitch into the people’s case.  (Steve Martini. The Jury, chapter 17) 

2. (BrE) a skeleton in the cupboard = (AmE) a skeleton in the closet = lijken in de kast

3. on behalf of / (AmE ook: ) in behalf of = (1a) namens, in opdracht van, (1b) als vertegenwoordiger van (2) ten gunste van, ten faveure van, in het voordeel van, ter verdediging van
(BrE) ‘in behalf of’” komt praktisch uitsluitend in oude teksten voor:
[On his death, Henry Thrale’s brewery] was sold by [Dr.] Johnson and his brother executor, in behalf of Mrs. Thrale, to Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co., for 135,000l. “We are not here”, said Johnson on the day of sale, “to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potential of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.(from: Murray’s Modern London, 1871, p. 77)

(AmE) in behalf of  / on behalf of
“A distinction exists between the phrases ‘in behalf of’ and ‘on behalf of”. The former means ‘in the interest or in defense of’ <he fought in behalf of a just man’s reputation>; the latter, ‘on behalf of’, means ‘as the agent of, as representative of’ (…) <she appeared on behalf of her client>.” (Bryan Garner’s Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, 2nd ed. 1995 )

Voorbeelden (AmE) in behalf (of):
he might consider returning the gold cross decorated with four swastikas bestowed on him in behalf of the Führer (…) > …. namens …. (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 1, vertaald door Ko Kooman)
I cursed him in behalf of my father, my mother, and especially my ostricized brother (…) (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 5, vertaald door Ko Kooman)
my parents were constantly extolling her unstinting exertions in behalf of Seldon. >… ten behoeve van ... (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 5, vertaald door Ko Kooman)
In a subsequent attack delivered in behalf of the Lindbergh administration (…) one eminent correspondent (…) concluded: “(…)”. > … ter verdediging van … (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 7, vertaald door Ko Kooman)
– At church services around the country, prayers are offered in behalf of the Lindbergh family. > Tijdens kerkdiensten in het hele land worden gebeden opgedragen voor het welzijn van de familie Lindbergh. (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 8, vertaald door Ko Kooman)
the Nazis set about to exploit Lindbergh’s fame in behalf of the Third Reich and at the expense of America (…). > … ten gunste van …. (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 8, vertaald door Ko Kooman)
“I think I have something that might work in our behalf.“(Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Trial by Fire, ch. 9)
– negotiate a settlement in my behalf. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence, chapter 36)
– Let me say, in Fr. Dunn’s behalf, he spoke up because he resentd our being removed from the table (…). (Elmore Leonard, Pagan Babies, chapter 19)
You know I could be influential in your behalf. (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 22)
We all made sworn statements to the fact that Vera Mezwa acted in our behalf or we’d all be dead. (Elmore Leonard, Up in Honey’s Room, chapter 31)
– What Duro is doing is unlawful. Stopping him would be acting in behalf of the government. (Elmore Leonard, The Bounty Hunters, chapter 16)
– You have to instruct the nurse in what to do, in your behalf. (Michael Crichton, Five Patentas, p. 126)
– He was closely monitored by teams of physicians who were prepared to intercede in his behalf (…). (Michael Crichton, Five Patients)
– Unadulterated, unselfish, unrewarded efforts in behalf of even the grieving widow of an old and true friend are not like you. (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 17)
Our manager, Mr. Higbee, has been authorized to vote in behalf of Investment Equities Incorporated (…). (John D. MacDonald, Condominium, chapter 24)

Voorbeeld (AmE) on behalf of:
Thank you on behalf of the company. (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books, page 352)

On behalf of komt vooral voor in juridische teksten, maar is veel minder gebruikelijk in het algemeen (AmE) spraakgebruik.
Zie Garner’s
Modern American Usage (2003): “In current usage, the distinction is seldom followed; ‘on behalf of’ is much more common in both senses. But stalwart stylists continue to distinguish the two.”

Zie ook Fowler’s Modern English Usage (2004):
“The only use current in standard BrE is on behalf of, with two main senses, ‘in the interest of’ (another person, cause, etc.)’, and ‘as the agent or representative of (another)’. In AmE in behalf of vies with on behalf of in the same two senses, though Garner (1987) insists that a distinction exists.”

The Cambridge Guide to English Usage (2004) stelt dat in het Amerikaans Engels zowel on behalf of als in behalf of wordt gebruikt, maar dat in behalf of veel vaker voorkomt, en ook dat het verschil in betekenis tussen de twee vormen niet zo duidelijk is als ‘sommige commentatoren’ willen doen geloven:
“There is no evidence that in behalf of is restricted to a single sense, as commentators have sometimes suggested. The two senses associated with on behalf of (‘in defense of’ / ’to the benefit of’ and ‘as agent/representative for’) are both to be found in the American corpus for in behalf of:
‘efforts in behalf of corporate client’ versus  ‘sent telegrams in behalf of their 10,000 members’.
However as the examples show, the two senses are not clearly separable.”

Een inventarisatie van de twee varianten in het werk van jurist-auteur Scott Turow laat zien dat de twee varianten door elkaar heen in beide betekenissen kunnen worden gebruikt, bij wijze van stilistische variatie:
– “In behalf of Mr Sabich, Your Honor, we would ask the court to enter a plea of not guilty to the charge.(Uit; Presumed Innocent) [= namens]
– “I would be a poor witness in my own behalf.”(Uit; Presumed Innocent)
– “You would make a fine witness in your behalf.”(Uit; Presumed Innocent) [= ten gunste van jezelf, in je eigen verdediging]
– “(…) he thinks you could have been a good deal more cautious, particularly on his behalf.”(Uit; Presumed Innocent)
– “But like a good lawyer, George can argue in behalf of others.” (Scott Turow, Limitations, chapter 14)
– He “had filed three lawsuits in behalf of the families of crash victims.” [= namens] (Scott Turow, Pleading Guilty,chapter 9)
– “The judges would be called upon to make a series of far-fetched rulings in Robbie’s behalf.” [ = ten gunste van, in het voordeel van] (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, chapter 6)
– “In behalf of Standard, the Law Offices of James McManis immediately filed a motion to dismiss.” [= namens] (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, chapter 6)
– “Stan (…) appeared as a witness in his behalf at his sentencing.” [in zijn verdediging] (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, chapter 45)
– “Somebody was going to try to kill him on Brendan Tuohey’s behalf.” [= namens, in opdracht van] (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, chapter 45)
– “He’d been acting on behalf of no one but himself.” [namens, in opdracht van] (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries,chapter 46)
– “For two days he had been in Chicago (…) on behalf of his most difficult client.” (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 1)
– “Dixon, on behalf of his company and subsidiaries, was required to produce a variety of records.” [= namens als vertegenwoordiger van] (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 3)
– “She seldom spoke up in her own behalf.” [namens zichzelf, voor zichzelf] (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof,chapter 5)
– “I am inquiring in behalf of someone with a need to know.” [= namens] (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof,chapter 14)
– “Then you may thank the United States Attorney for his ethical vigilance on my behalf (…).” [= ten gunste van] (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 21)
– “Stern [was] trying in the mildes way to say something in Klonsky’s behalf.” [= ten gunste van] (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 24)
– “What about the Fifth Amendment in Dixon’s behalf?” [ = ten gunste van] (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof,chapter 35)
– “Stern had no interest in martyring himself, particularly in Dixons’s behalf.” [= ten gunste van] (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 35)
– “He nearly uttered a word or two in Dixon’s behalf.” [= ten gunste van] (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof,chapter 40)
– “But at this point, he called on his talent for sincerity, since he was his finest self, an advocate not speaking on his own behalf.” [= ten gunste van] (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 50)

– he had done a fine job in his own behalf. (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers, p. 259)

Conclusie:
(1) de combinatie “in behalf of” (15x) komt in het hierboven geciteerde werk van de Amerikaanse jurist-auteur Scott Turow eens zo vaak voor dan “on behalf of” (7x)
(2) vertalers kunnen uit het afwisselend gebruik van “in behalf of” naast “on behalf of” niet automatisch afleiden of er een betekenisverschil wordt bedoeld.

4. named after / named for / named from
Zie Garner’s Modern American Usage (2003):
“Named for means to be named in honor of (someone or something) <the Nobel Prize was named for Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel> (…)
Named after means that a person’s or thing’s name was given to another person or a place after the namesake was born or achieved fame.
Named from applies to things, not people, and means that a name was inspired by something else that isn’t necessarily well-known or worthy of honor (…) e.g. (…) streets named from Beatles’ song titles.”

The Cambridge Guide to American Usage (2004) vermeldt dat in BrE ‘named after‘ in beide bovengenoemde betekenissen wordt gebruikt, maar dat ‘named for’ ook in BrE voorkomt.:
“Though named after is much more common than named for in [BrE], by about 10:1, the latter is clearly not unknown. Americans make substantial use of both idioms, while favoring named for over named after by about 3:2 (…). Canadians prefer named after (…), as do Australians (…).

Voorbeelden (AmE) named for:
– “Hancock County was named for John, he of the bold signature on the Declaration of Independence
” (John Grisham, The Summons)
The museum is being named for his father. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, chapter 13)
Thta’s her dad with her, Carlos, the one I was named for. (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 10)
Named for the six-foot fictional rabbit in a vintage Jimmy Stewart movie, Harvey is sheer stealth. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, prologue)
He had picked out the Hotel Liguria – named for the region Rapallo was in (…). (Elmore Leonard, Pronto, chapter 11)
Carl was named for Grace’s father, Carlos. (Elmore Leonard, Up in Honey’s Room, chapter 5)
The house was on the corner of Rosa Parks Boulevard and my name is Rosa account of I was named for her?  (Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise, chapter 24)
– I was named for her dad. (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 1)
Chris named his first gushers for the child Emma (…), and named a well for Jack. (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 12)
Martin Luther King Jr., for whom Freedom Plaza is named. (Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol, chapter 76)
he was named for the harpoon. (Norman Mailer, Tough Guys Don’t Dance)
she named them simply (..) Cassian and Paul, for her father and Mickey’s (…). (Scott Turow, Identical, chapter 11)
Will you name her for mummy? (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 2)
– She was named for my mother. (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 21)
Edwards Air Force Base, named for a test pilot, Glenn Edwards (…).  (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 3)

Voorbeeld (AmE) name after / named after:
A year later they had their first child, a boy named Adam, after her father. (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 6)
Sam. Named after my dad. He was a state trooper too.  (David Baldacci, The Sixth Man, chapter 13)
– (…) named after somebody whose name escapes me. (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 14)
This one you said I could name after me. (John D. MacDonald, Condominium, chpater 12)

Voorbeelden (BrE) named for / named after:
The papers have dubbed Coleman and her friends the new PrimroseHill set – named for the hedonistic 1990s group led by Kate Moss, Jude Law and Sadie Frost, who all lived and partied in that north London enclave. (Tatler magazine Oct. 2020, page 60)
– the spaniels named after him [King Charles II] should be allowed access anywhere in the land. (Tatler magazine Oct. 2020, page 64)

5. (AmE) as of* / (BrE) as from / (BrE) as at / on / with effect from / with effect from / effective / effective from
As of should be used with caution. Originally an Americanism, the phrase frequently signifies the effective date of a document, as when the document is backdated, postdated, or signed by various people at diffrent times: ’this contract is effective as of July 1′. When such a nuance is not intended, as of is the wrong phrase. E.g., it is often inferior to on: ‘The plaintiff’s employment with the defendant ended as of [read on] September 30. (…)

As of now (…), along with as of itself, has been criticized as a barbarism. (…) What is generally meant is at present. (…) But as of now does not mean ‘at present’; rather it means ‘up to the present time’. [The linguist] Follett also disapproved of the phrase, recommending instead ‘up to now’ or ‘for the present’, but as of now is today unobjectionable in AmE. (…)

As from [is] a formal way of dating the onset of something, is more common in BrE than in AmE. E.g., ‘Eventually it was decided that as from 1979 criminal cases in the House of Lords should be reported under the same title as in the court below.’ (…)

As at (= as of) is characteristic chiefly of BrE and of financial contexts in AmE. E.g., ‘This book reflects the law as at August 1986.'” (see Bryan Garner’s Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage , 3e ed., 2011)

6. (BrE) to … inclusive / (AmE) through / (BrE/AmE) to
In BrE inclusive is used to emphasize that you are including the days, months, numbers, etc. mentioned, especially in formal or official situations: ‘Answer questions 8 through 12 inclusive (…)’
In NAmE through is used: ‘Answer questions 8 through 12 (…)’
To can also be used with this meaning in BrE and NAmE: ‘The park is open from 1 May to 31 October.”
(zie ook ‘inclusive’ in OALD, 9th edition, 2015)
Zie ook: Fowler’s Modern English Usage (2004):
“The convenient AmE use of through to mean ‘up to and including’ (Monday through Friday) is familiar to standard speakers of BrE but is not often used by them except as a conscious Americanism.”

7. different from / (BrE) different to / (AmE) different than
Different from is the most common structure in both BrE and AmE. Different to is also used in BrE: ‘Paul’s very different from/to his brother (…).’
In NAmE people also say different than: ‘Your trains are different than ours (…).’
Before a clause you can also use different from (and different than in NAmE): ‘She looked different from/than what I’d expected’.” (zie OALD, 9th ed., 2015)
The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3rd edition, 2009) geeft de volgende Usage Note:
“Some purists consider only ‘different from’ to be correct. Note that, as prepositions, ‘from’, ’than’, ’to’ can all introduce full clauses (‘different from/than/to what we thought’) , but only ’than’ can, as a conjunction, become part of a clause (‘different than we thought’).”

Voorbeelden (AmE) different than:
This was different than all the others he had ever seen. (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 20)

8. round / around / about
(AmE) around / (BrE) round / (BrE) about = ongeveer, rond
(BrE) round / (BrE/AmE) around = rond, rondom
(BrE) about / (BrE) round / (BrE/AmE) around = in het rond, in de rondte

Around and round can often be used with the same meaning in BrE, though around is more formal: ‘The earth goes round/around the sun’, ’they live round/around the corner'(…) In NAmE only around can be used in these meanings.
Around, round and about can also sometimes be used with the same meaning in BrE: ‘The kids were running around/round/about outside’, ‘I’ve been waiting around/round/about outside to see her all day’. In NAmE only around can be used in these meanings.
About and around can be used in both BrE and NAmE to mean approximately: ‘We left around/about 8 o’clock’.” (zie OALD, 9th edition, 2015)
N.B. ergens omheen draaaien / niet ter zake komen = (BrE) beat about the bush / (AmE) beat around the bush

OALD definities (9th edition, 2015):
about (bijwoord)
1. approximately
2. nearly, very close to
3. (esp. BrE) in many directions > They were rushing about (AmE: around)
4. (esp. BrE) in various places > Her books were lying about (AmE: around)
5. (esp. BrE) doing nothing in particular > People were standing about (AmE: around)
6. (esp. BrE) able to be found in a certain place > There is a lot of flu about (AmE: around)
7. facing the opposite direction

about (voorzetsel)
1. on the subject of sth.
2. [indicating purpose or aspect of sth]
3. busy with sth
4. (esp. BrE) in many directions in a place > We wandered about the town (AmE: around)
5. (esp. BrE) in various parts of a place > They are strewn about the room (AmE: around)
6. (esp. BrE) next to a place or person > He’s somewhere about the office (AmE: around)
7. surrounding sb or sth

(a)round (bijwoord)
1. approximately
2. on every side
3. (esp. AmE) moving in a circle > It makes the wheels go around (BrE also: round)
4. (esp. AmE) measured in a circle > We were all running around (BrE also: round)
5. in or to many places
6. [regarding activities without real purpose]
7. present in a place
8. active and well-known in a sport, etc.
9. (esp. AmE) in a curve to face another way > She turned the car around (BrE also: round)

(a)round (voorzetsel)
1. surrounding sb/sth > The house is built around a yard (BrE also: round)
2. on, to, or from the other side of sb/sth > Our house is around the corner (BrE also: round)
3. in a circle > They walked around the lake.(BrE also: round)
4. to fit in with particular people, ideas, etc. > arrange sth around sb’s timetable (BrE also: round)
5. in or to many places in an area > Go around the town looking for .. (BrE also: round)

9. (plank)gas geven
(AmE) gun it, floor it, ….

Voorbeelden:
– “He floored it“, “He gunned it, and the car sped off laying black tread down on ancient cobblestone.”
(David Baldacci, Deliver us from Evil, chapter. 56)
I had to go after him. I floored it. (Elmore Leonard, Pagan Babies, chapter 12)
– “He laid the gas pedal flat to the floor and cut his wheel hard to the left.” (David Baldacci, King and Maxwell, chapter 43)
She floored the Honda and drove as if the hounds of Hell were yapping at her feet. (Nancy Taylor Roesenberg, Mitigaing Cicumstances.chapter 17)
[He ] floored the accelerator. (Tim Green, The Letter of the Law, chapter 36)

10. with regard to / in regard to / as regards / in regard of / regarding / with respect to / in respect of
Voorbeeld (AmE) in regard to:
Questioned in regard to four, five, six homicides.  (Elmore Leonard, Glitz, chapter 12)
She asked what it was in regard to (…). (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, chapter 23)

11.  Zie ook notes in OALD  m.b.t de volgende uitdrukkingen:
‘altogether’ = ‘in total‘. BrE ‘altogether’ is ook ‘completely‘. Vergelijk ‘all together’
care’: Vergelijk: take care of / look after / care for
farther: Vergelijk: farther / further / farthest / furthest
‘firstly‘:
Vergelijk firstly / first of all / at first
‘Bags (I) …’: Vergelijk (AmE) Dibs on …
‘likely’
: In het BrE vaak in combinatie met more/most/very
‘quite’:
Vergelijk quite/fairly/rather/pretty

12. Variaties op het idioom “up shit creek without a paddle”
(AmE) “When he finally left office in 1993 [the mayor of Detroit] bragged that ‘Detroit had achieved a level of autonomy that no other city can match.’ He apparently didn’t care that it was the autonomy of a man in a rowboat, in the middle of the ocean, without oars.” (from: Time, Oct. 5, 2009)
Without help from the literary agent he was up the proverbial creek with a broken paddle. (Steve Martini, The Jury, chapter 29)

13. idiomatische uitdrukkingen met penny / pound / cent / dollar
Idiomatische uitdrukkingen met het woord ‘dollar’ komen soms ook in het Brits Engels voor.
En uitdrukkingen met ‘pound’ en ‘penny’ komen ook in het Amerikaans voor.
(BrE/IntE) “You can bet your bottom dollar (…)” (Frances Fyfield, Blood from Stone, 2008, chapter 7)
(BrE) put in / add one’s twopennys’ worth = (AmE) put in one’s two cents = (Ned) een duit in het zakje doen, een mening geven voor wat (het) hij waard is
(BrE/ IntE) in for a penny, in for a pound* / (AmE) in for a dime, in for a dollar = wie A zegt, moet ook B zeggen
(AmE) Bet you dollars to doughnuts = ik durf  er alles onder te verwedden (Steve Martini, The Jury, chapter 16)
(AmE) Five will get you ten that I’ll have a letter by the end of the week. (Scott Turow, Limitations, chapter 21)
(AmE) Nine would get you ten. (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, chapter 39)
(AmE) top dollar = beste prijs (“what’s your top dollar?“, (John Grisham, The Partner)

Voorbeeld (AmE) in for a dime, in for a dollar :
“In for a dime, in for a dollar.” (David Baldacci, King and Maxwell, 2013, hoofdstuk 7)

Voorbeelden in Amerikaans-Engels van “in for a penny in for a pound” in AmE :
– In de Amerikaanse (!) film Copland, zegt Ray Liotta: “in for a penny, in for a pound”, zonder dat er van ironie en/of een Britse associatie sprake is.
– Steve Martini, The Simeon Chamber, chapter 4
– Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 12

Voorbeelden (BrE) put in / add one’s twopennys’ worth:
She was not going to add her two pennyworth (Frances Fyfield, Seeking Sanctuary, ch. 2)
He put in his two pennys’ worth, his own little mite of observation, which wasn’t much (Frances Fyfield, The Art of Drowning, ch. 16)
I put in my two penn’orth and was told to fuck off. (Frances Fyfield, Blind Date, ch. 11)

Voorbeelden (AmE) put in one’s two cents:
– Harry put our two cents in the pot ( (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 17)
Glenn said, putting his two cents in (…)  (Elmore Leonard, Out of Sight, chapter 16

14. apart from / (AmE) aside from / (AmE) outside of. Vergelijk: (AmE) inside of = within / (AmE) at the outside = maximum
The equivalent expression [of apart from] in AmE from the early 19c. has been aside from. (…) The indications are that aside from is now dominant in other English-speaking countries (…) Apart from is by no means extinct in AmE”.  (Fowler’s Modern English Usage, 2004)

Voorbeelden (AmE) outside of = behalve, afgezien van
Outside of his arrest or drunk driving he’d never committed a criminal act. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chapter 6)
She seldom cooked, outside of making herself a bowl of soup (…). (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence, chapter 25)
Outside of a few pieces of cheap luggage, there was nothing of real value worth stealing. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence, chapter 26)
Outside of her phone conversation with Greg, much of the previous evening had passed in a fog. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence, chapter 6)
Outside of Louis. (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 10)
Outside of that Louis wasn’t saying much; acting strange. (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 20)
Outside of the haircut and the tattoos all the girl parts are there. (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 1)
– none of the building tenants (…) heard anything outside of maybe a scream …  (Elmore Leonard, Glitz, chapter 8)
– What occupied Jack Belmont’s mind these days, outside of making money (…), was Norm Dilworth’s wife, Heidi. (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 6)
He shouldn’t asume anything, outside of she was a little more serious (…). (Elmore Leonard, Freaky Deaky, chapter 20)
Most of the mob guys, outside of Amilia, live (…) in Clinton Township. (Elmore Leonard, Pagan Babies, chapter 18)
What’s your problem? I know – don’t tell me. But outside of money, what?” (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 15)
Outside of that there’s only one part that bothers me. (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 24)
Outside of that, and having  name like Earlne, what’s her problem? (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 21)
The Zip (…) asked Jimmy what he knew about Harry Arno outside of he was from here originally (…). (Elmore Leonard, Pronto, chapter 6)
Don’t ask me why he did it, outside of it gave him a passport in each name. (Elmore Leonard, Pronto, chapter 7)
We don’t know what the dude wants outside of he wants to talk to Mr. Ganz. (Elmore Leonard, Riding the Rap, chapter 14)
Whatever anybody wants outside of whiskey nd plin water they’re taking a chance. (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 19)
Outside of him and White Boy Bob there were maybe five or six other white people in the theater. (Elmore Leonard, Out of Sight, chapter 22)
What can you do he can’t – outside of pressing two hundred ninety-five pounds straight up over your head? (Elmore Leonard, Split Images, chapter 1)

Voorbeelden (AmE) aside from = behalve:
– “On nights you don’t have many deliveries aside from maybe a restaurant, you know (…)” (Elmore Leonard, Glitz, chapter 9)
Aside from Mr. Zola, of course. (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 25)
aside from the expense (Michael Crichton, Five Patents)
Aside from one damn fool play, you’re doing fine. (John D. MacDonald, Bright Orange for the Shroud, chapter 15)

Voorbeelden (AmE) inside of = within = (Ned.) binnen
– These guys were here inside of two minutes from the time the alarm started to blow. (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 10)

Voorbeeld (AmE) at the outside = (Ned) maximaal:
– If I had to guess, I’d say six at the outside. (John D. MacDonald, Free Fall in Crimson, chapter 6)

15. Graag gedaan! / Geen dank!
The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3e editie, 2009) geeft de volgende Usage Note:
“The standard responses to ‘Thanks’ or ‘Thank you’ include ‘You’re welcome’, ‘Don’t mention it’, ‘Not at all’, ‘No problem’.
‘You’re welcome’ is nowadays neutral CE [= Common English].
‘No problem’ is colloquial CE.
Don’t mention it’ and ‘Not at all’ are both BE and somewhat old-fashioned.

Colloquial AmE:
‘sure!’, ‘absolutely!’, ‘any time’, ‘you got it!’, ‘you bet!’

16. in a good mood / in good mood / etc.
The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3rd edition, 2009) geeft de volgende Usage Note:
CE [= Common English] has ‘in a good mood’; ‘in an ebullient mood’; ‘in a defiant mood’; ‘in a confrontational mood’; ‘in an unrepentant mood’.
BE has also ‘in defiant mood’; ‘in confrontational mood’; ‘in unrepentant mood’.
When can BE drop a/an?

Perhaps when ‘mood’ is related in meaning to ‘mode’, and implies readiness to act.
But when ‘mood’ is related in meaning to ‘moodiness’, and implies a state of feeling merely, BE retains a/an.’

17. kletsen, een boom opzetten
(IntE) chew the fat (BrE: Frances Fyfield, Blood from Stone, ch. 8. AmE: “)
(AmE) shoot the bull / (AmE) shoot the breeze / (AmE) shoot the shit

Voorbeelden (AmE):
– Hump sat in the hallway and shot the bull with Frohmeyer. (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, ch. 35)
I was just coming up to shoot the breeze with one of your investigators. You know, brag a little. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Mitigating Circumstances, chapter 1)
Shoot the shit about old times. (Elmore Leonard, Cat Chaser, chapter 23)
– “You two can shoot the shit in your native tongue.” (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 21)
– You guys working or just shooting the shit? (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 19)
– “Nolen, you want to talk on the phone, shoot the shit (…)?” (Elmore Leonard, Cat Chaser, chapter 20)
– I’d love to stay and shoot the shit and all (…). (Tom Wolfe, I Am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 17)

Voorbeelden van (IntE) chew the fat:
– de Britse auteur Frances Fyfield in haar roman Blood from Stone, chapter 8. 
– de Amerikaanse auteur Steve Martini in The Judge, chapter 5: “Tony is chewing the fat with another cop.

18. huis-tuin-en-keuken: cookie-cutter, plain vanilla, garden-variety, run-of the mill*
Voorbeelden AmE:
– a garden-variety murder (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, ch. 5)
your average run-of-the-mill gumshoe. (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, ch. 13)
– your run-of the-mill burglar  (Steve Martini. The Simeon Chamber, chapter 4) 

So I guess a garden-variety scandal isn’t so bad. (David Baldacci, King and Maxwell, ch. 77)
– Evenings of plain vanilla closeness in his black leather chair (…) (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, “At Sea”)
he was your vanilla suburbanite (Scott Turow, Reversible Errors, chapter 2)
small, dilapidated cookie-cutter houses (David Baldacci, Zero Day, chapter 7)
I think some more creative stuff could have been done at this point aside from the cookie cutter everyone killing anything that moves. (David Baldacci, Zero Day)

19. impromptu, al doende, al improviserend, tussen de bedrijven door
on the hoof / on the fly / off the cuff / flying by the seat of one’s pants

Voorbeeld BrE:
– I’ve learned on the hoof. (Frances Fyfield, Blood from Stone, ch. 7)

Voorbeeld AmE:
You had to react on the fly. (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, ch. 22)
His journey now wasn’t carefully constructed. He was flying by the seat of his pants. (David Baldacci, King and Maxwell, ch. 21)
– He can do anything on the fly and off the cuff. (Steve Martini. The Arraignment, chapter 3)

20. een makkie, een eitje, fluitje van een cent, kat in het bakkie = (AmE) a cakewalk, (IntE) a piece of cake, a breeze, a walk in the park, a cinch
Voorbeeld (BrE/IntE):
– So far she had found the exams a breeze. (Frances Fyfield, Without Consent, ch. 2)
Melvin Plotkin, five-foot-two, is a real piece of cake (…). (Steve Martini. Compelling Evidence chapter 26)

Voorbeeld (AmE) a cakewalk / a walk in the park / a cinch / etc.:
– He called it a cakewalk. (Steve Martini. The Arraignment, chapter 20)
– This one was gonna be a cakewalk. (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 9)
– … like a walk in the park (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 6)
– … a slam dunk. = ‘kat in het bakkie’ (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 6)
Your lawsuit is a cinch. (John Grisham, The Litigators, chapter 47)
Writing good standard English is no cinch (…). (Strunk & White, The Elements of Style, 4th edition, p. 84)
It’s a cinch. (John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday, chapter 39)

21. wachten op = (BrE) wait for* /(AmE ook:) wait on
In het AmE komen beide varianten voor, met mogelijk een nuanceverschil tussen ‘op een gebeurtenis wachten’ (‘wait for’) en ‘op de komst van iets/iemand wachten’ (wait on’)

Voorbeelden AmE wait on = wachten:
they waited on double espressos (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, ch. 30)
We’re waiting on you to say yes or no. (John Grisham, The Appeal)
I’m pacing in a crowded and humid wing of the San Juan airport, waiting onDelta flight to Atlanta. (John Grisham, The Racketeer, chapter 37)
they (…)  waited on some word from Boyette. (John Grisham, The Confession)
He looks first to me, and then to Lenore, until he realizes that we are waiting on him. (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 7)
– She watched as Jack leaned on one of the brass elephant heads that graced the bar railing, waiting on the bartender. (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 32)
– “You want me to keep waiting on him?” (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 10)
We’ve been waiting on you, man. What you been doing all day, sleeping?” (Elmore Leonard, Freaky Deaky, chapter 28)
– “Rise and shine,” Mr. Woody, the day is waiting on you (…).  (Elmore Leonard, Freaky Deaky, chapter 18)
“Smashed the glass door; I had it replaced, but I’m still waiting on the screen man.” (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 13)
“I was in there waiting on Gibbs to come in from the yard.” (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 13)
– “I’m waiting on the girl lives here?” (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 24)
There’s a whole gym full of people waiting on you. (Elmore Leonard, Raylan, chapter 20)
I’m still waiting on Mr. Walker. (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 11)
he’s waiting on his car (Elmore Leonard, Bandits, chapter 17)
– “The Captain don’t like to wait on breakfast.” (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 47)
“What are you waiting on?”Lippy asked. “We’re three miles behind already.” (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 89)
“They’re waiting on me.” – “Go tell them to be patient then.” (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 7)
“Maybe the young lady should kind of wait on us.”  But Puss tagged along. (John D. MacDonald, TPale Gray for Guilt, chapter 3)
“Now wait a minute!” –  “I don’t have to wait on you, mister.” (John D. MacDonald, Free Fall in Crimson, chapter 15)
– there was Seldon waiting on the front stoop to walk me to school. (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 5)

(AmE  ook:) wait for = wachten op
Bob Gibbs was outside waiting for her (…). (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 13)
Hector was frowning now. “But what’he done? Nothing yet. You going to wait for him to do it?” (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 20)
Anything I can’t stand is waiting for people. (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, chapter 9)
she buttered the biscuit and waited for it to cool. (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, ch. 32)
– The [sheriff’s] deputies were waiting for the marshal to arrive, as apprehending armed fugitives was their specialty. (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 1)
I waited for something to occur to her. (John D. MacDonald, Nightmare in Pink, chapter 6)

Voorbeelden (IntE) wait on (sb.) = bedienen:
– I’ve been waiting on people for almost twenty years. (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 12)
Mr Deering calls me to wait on them as I know the store pretty well. (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 1)
She (…) had done nothing but wait on tables. (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, chapter 4)

22. AmE werkwoorden die de vorm van een zelfstandige naamwoord hebben
Dit aanvankelijk typisch Amerikaanse fenomeen komt nu ook steeds vaker voor in het BrE.
AmE (met * ook in BrE):

– to backjack sb. (e.g. in Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
– to badmouth sb.(Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
– to backdoor
– to bankroll (financieren)
– to beeline (Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
– to bird-dog sb. (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye)
– to blackball (sb)
– to blackjack (sb) (Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
– to blindside sb., to be blindsided [cf. BrE ‘”be attacked out of left field”]
– to bootjack (sth) (e.g. in Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
– to bootstrap
– to broadside sb.  (e.g. in John Grisham, The Partner, chapter 12)
– to brownnose
– to buffalo
– to bulldoze sb. (Steve Martini, The List)
– to bushwhack sb (John D. MacDonald, A Purple Place for Dying)
– to buttonhole sb.
– to carpetbag
– to coldcock (bewusteloos slaan, buiten westen, het licht uit de ogen slaan)
–  to cornhole (= sodomize)
– to crowbar
– to deadpan (e.g. in Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
– to deep-six

– to eyeball sb./sth.
– to fishtail (e.g. in Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
– to freebase
– to freeload
– to gladhand sb. /  a glad-hander
– to handbag sb.*
– to hardnose sb. (e.g. in Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
– to hightail
– to hotdog (on dope, etc.) (e.g. in Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
– to jackknife (e.g. in Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)*
– to jackrabbit
– to lollygag
– to moonlight

– to railroad sb.*
– to rawhide sb. (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye)
– to rear-end sb./sth. = van achteren aanrijden (e.g. Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual)
– to roughhouse
– to rubberneck
– to sandbag sb.
– to shitcan sth
– to showboat sb.
– to shotgun
– to showcase (e.g. Steve Martini, The Arraignment, ch. 3)
– to speedball (Ellroy, L.A. Confidential / Elmore Leonard, Split Images)
– to spitball
– to splitsville

– to steamroller
– to stiff-arm sb.
– to stonewall sb.
– to strongarm sb.
– to tank-job sb. (e.g. in Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
– to wagon-train
– to watchdog (Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)

Voorbeeldzinnen:
He’s worth a boatload of greenbacks, and I know (…) he’s bankrolled a lot of movies. (Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 25)
More than a year before the movie’s release they would be bankrolling the marketing of Gable Cooper’s hardcover book.  (Steve Martini. The List, chapter 4)
– Josie is helping to bankroll it. (John D. MacDonald, Free Fall in Crimson, chapter 9)
Jack beelined. (Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
An usher bird-dogged me with wary flashlight (…).  (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 8)
He tried to blackball me on the assignment. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 16)
I don’t want him lose his job, get blackballed in the industry.  (Steve Martini. Double Tap, chapter 14)
He got blindsided. (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, chapter 45)
The prosecution had blindsided us with this. (Steve Martini, The Jury, chapter12, vertaald door Hugo Kuipers, De Gezworenen)
– It is clear that Chapman had been blindsided by the publication (…).  (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 6)
This boy I’ve never seen before whomps me a good’n, blindsides me while I ain’t looking. (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 7)
The scudder blindsided me while I’m talking to the girl there. (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 16)
I don’t want to get blindsided, Roy, get my fucking head taken off and I don’t even see it coming.  (Elmore Leonard, Bandit, chapter 11)
– The cocksucker blindsided me. (Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full, chapter 1)

Mickey Cohen goons in an LAPD unmarked, Tijuana cops standing by to bootjack a piece of his goodies. (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
to bootjack the job (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
They’re trying to bootstrap themselves. > Ze proberen zich aan hun eigen haren uit het moeras te trekken. (Steve Martini, The Jury, chapter 11, vertaald door Hugo Kuipers, “De Gezworenen)
We broadside them with this, and we soften up the sentiment a bit. Think of it, Sandy. The FBI torturing a suspect, an American citizen. (John Grisham, The Partner, chapter 12)
a brownnosing snitch (Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
– I’m buffaloed now. (Scott Turow, Identical, chapter 14)
– there was no way you could hve convinced Pea Eye that Captain Cal was the short man. Cal had him buffaloed (…). (
Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 1)
– The youth is trying desperately to buttonhole his counsel (…).
(Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, ch. 5)
– (…) he’d wait in those rocks below to bushwhack us (John D. MacDonald, A Purple Place for Dying, chapter 13)
– He motions the bailiff (…) to buttonhole the other witness out on the bench. (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 17)
Jack waved back; Kleckner buttonholed him. (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidentia, chapter 34)
Emil dispatches Claude and two of his deputies to button-hole the families for a private gathering (…). (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 9)
The bailiff wags a finger at me, then buttonholes Chambers. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 31)
– Here they were (…), buttonholing kids like me out on Chancellor Avenue (…). (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 7)
“Okay, don’t tell anybody, but I carpetbagged. (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 18)
I would find myself (…) working over the witness, only to have him coldcock me with the gratuitous testimony (…)  (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 6)

After I coldcocked him in my hallway I called 911. (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 20)
They’d start out swinging like a movie fight, coldcock some guy close by and start a free-for-all if they could. (Elmore Leonard, Glitz, chapter 20)
– I put Bill McPherson in the tank for you, I cold-cocked him and put him in bed with that colored girl (…). James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 44)
You coldcocked him! > Je hebt hem buiten westen geslagen. (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 31)
– They won’t go to prison and get cornholed every day by Negroes. (Elmore Leonard, Raylan, chapter 9)
– He, Jojo, had crowbrred his way inside the ginat’s head (…). (Tom Wolfe, I Am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 16)
– the fruit deadpanned him cold.
(James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 21)
She says she can’t ID the people in the photos and she’s mum on that extortion angle you told me to play up. She deadpanned the Nite Owl – and I believe her. (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 62)
Sellig deadpans this as she gives me the news. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 10)

– We deep-sixed the report to keep it away from defense attorneys in some cases. (Steve Martini, The Attorney, chapter 17)
deep-six the whole bundle (Steve Martini, The Jury, chapter 9)
– I was the one who said we should deep-six the trawler and the fishermen with it. (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 24)
He had taken the lights off her, the fittings that had been damaged by Sprenger’s snipe fire, deep-sixed them (…). (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 21)
So we deep-six him and say nothing. (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 16)
– After she sacked out, we went through Waxwell’s gear. We deep-sixed it, rifle and all. (John D. MacDonald, Bright Orange for the Shroud, chapter 15)
– we were beginning to wonder if some old pirate hadn’t deep-sixed a busted cannon. (John D. MacDonald, The Turquoise Lament, chapter 3)
So he (…) probably deep-sixed her up one of the canals. (John D. MacDonald, The Turquoise Lament, chapter 12)
– He’d have to eyeball it. (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, ‘At Sea’)
– Then she lifted up the visor so she could eyeball the woman.
(David Baldacci, True Blue, chapter 11)
– Still, Mace couldn’t help but smile as the Ducati blew past an Old Town Trolley carrying a load of out-of-towners eyeballing with awe the shrines to Tom, Abe, and the mighty white obelisk to George.
(David Baldacci,  Blue, chapter 11)
– The car was fishtailing.
(David Baldacci, True Bl;ue, ( Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
the car [was] fishtailing as he turned. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Mitigating Circumstances, chapter 43)
The jeep fishtailed in the mud (…). (Michael Crichton, State of Fear, Avon Books, page 606)
“He starts free-basing this evening, gets to trembling and becomes develish.” (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 2)
– He starts free-basing, he will trap animals as a sacrifice, with a knife. (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 5)
There was nothing Chucky could do but (…) laying oie-in-the-face straightman to the free-basing Cubans. (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 10)-
He recoils at the notion of freeloading.(Steve Martini. The Attorney, chapter 21) 
He has glad-handed and back-slapped Harry all the way into the courtroom. (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, ch. 18)
I can’t imagine that guy backslapping and glad-handing, though. (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers, p. 145)
– Nathan wasn’t there to glad-hand the press.  (Steve Martini. Double Tap, chapter 34)
–  “Honey, what is it? Is it Exley? Did he hardnose you?”(James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 61)
She did, and then she came out later and we hightailed it home. (David Baldacci, First Family, chapter 85)
We should hop on the plane and hightail it home. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, ch. 29)
Sonny hightailed it toward the stable. (Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full, chapter 3)
I (…) hightailed it for the Shottlehauster farm (…). (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 11)
– Hit hard, grab weapons and high tail it the hell out. (John D. MacDonald, A Deadly Shade of Gold, chapter 16)
– He hotdogged on dope. (Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
Young guys hotdogged on skateboards. (Elmore Leonard, Pronto, chapter 15)
hotdogging (Tom Wolfe, I Am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 2, vertald als ‘freestylen’)
A tank truck had jackknifed and exploded. (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 11)
– he was stuffed into this little thimble, lying on his back, practically immobile, with his legs jackknifed. (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 10)
Mustn’t try to jackrabbit out of here (…). (Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full, chapter 11)
Television crewmen, radio broadcasters, reporters, and photographers sat, milled, and lollyggged about. (Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 29)
– He moonlighted rigging bootleg bookie lines. (Ellroy, L.A. Confidential)
– You were railroaded. (David Baldacci, True Blue)
– He’s a cop, Jack, and he’s been out to railroad me for years.  (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Trial by Fire, chapter 15)
I don’t understand why you let them railroad you. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chapter 4)
– We will let him have his way because (…) we know you were railroaded. (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 16)
They were the three Negro youths (…) who were railroaded by the Los Angeles Police Department. (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 47)
Evergreen could have decided to railroad her. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chapter 20)
Fareek was being railroaded. (Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Epilogue)
– Look, I did not mean to rawhide you last night. (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 9)
– [H]e made sure you caved in, (…) through “good-natured” roughhousing (…). (Tom Wolfe, I Am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 22)
And she was pretty rowdy now and again. Rough-housing into other people’s little games. (John D. MacDonald, The Quick Red Fox, chapter 5)
Traffic has slowed on Front Street as drivers stop to rubberneck. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, chapter 3)
– People are slowing down to rubberneck. (Steve Martini, The Attorney, chapter 8)
– he was laughing at how I’d been sandbagged by Cheetham. (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, ch. 19)
He has clearly sandbagged them, and Nelson is now tongue-tied. 
(Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, ch. 33)
– This makes it easier to sandbag us. (Steve Martini, The Attorney, chapter 22)
I can sandbag Ryan, probably kick the crap out of him (…). (Steve Martini, The Attorney, chapter 33)
we’ve been sandbagged >  dat we [door de informatie] zijn overvallen (Steve Martini, The Jury, chapter 2, vertaald door Hugo Kuipers, De Gezworenen)
– There is nothing I can do but smile back, sandbagged as I am by a group gathering.  (Steve Martini. Doulbe Tap, chapter 6)
“And who was it who sandbagged us with a last-minute motion to quash?” I ask. (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 17)
– It could raise havoc (…) if the local bench sees the prosecutor’s office (…) sandbagging one of their own in the media. (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 3)
“They tried to sandbag us“, says Lenore. “If there’s any sandbagging here”, says Kline, “it was done by you.”(Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 14)
– Do you want the defense to sandbag us with this kind of argument? (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Trial by Fire, chapter 12)
– Maggie Wilson sandbagged him. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 9)
– You forget I’ve been sand-bagged myself. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 34)
I wouldn’t sandbag no guy. (John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday, chapter 18)
He really was sandbagged by Washington. (Michael Crichton, Rising Sun, Arrow Books, page 255)
Bobby’d sandbag him on sight. (Elmore Leonard, Unknown Man #89, chapter 1)
You pretended to take a report and then you shitcanned it. (David Balcacci, The Forgotten, chapter 90)
– the smokeys would (…) shotgun those fuckers right out of their saddles. (John D. MacDonald, Free Fall in Crimson, chapter 11)
– He made the unhappy mistake of showboating her at the institute’s annual gala (…). (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, ch. 28)
– He was a natural, show-boating in a stretch limo (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 30)
Irony and intellectual showboating returned to his speech. (Tom Wolfe, I Am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 33)
Boyd came showboating up to me (…). (John D. MacDonald, The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper, chapter 14)
He was a good officer. He didn’t showboat and draw fire. (John D. MacDonald, Free Fall in Crimson, chapter 10)
I could have the agency speedball you a nice layout. Maybe put a gun in it? (Elmore Leonard, Split Images, chapter 15)
– Cufflinks in his face, Kinnard speedballing. Bud got up and chased. (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, part 1, chapter 1)
– The manager told him Chris Bergeron splitsvilled day before yesterday, two seconds after getting a phone call. (Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 21)
– It can keep you from being simply steamrollered by fate. (Scott Turow, Identical, chapter 23)
– He got stiff-armed by Wally’s (…) denials
(John Grisham, The Litigators, chapter 31)
– We’ve just stiff-armed poverty. (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, chapter 7)
– Sure enough, Robin pulled the gun out of her jeans and stiff-armed it in Chris’s face. (Elmore Leonard, Freaky Deaky, chapter 20)
But I am also afraid that if we hit him dead on, not knowing more, that Pablo Ibarra will stonewall us. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, ch. 25)
– There is little sense in attempting to stonewall it any longer. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 22)
Besides, we tried talking with several of their other witnesses and got stonewalled. (Steve Martini. The Jury, chapter 11)
– They tried to stonewall this one, they could be looking at bad faith.  (Steve Martini. The List chapter11)
– I stonewalled him. Told him I didn’t know what he was talking about.  (Steve Martini. The List, chapter 17)
He can shake them up if they continue to stonewall. (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books, page 304)
They stonewalled me. (Michael Crichton, Rising Sun, Arrow Books, page 124)
– Hopper County had contracted with a private outfit to strong-arm the money out of (..) poor people. (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, chapter 8)

– The last time he’d seen her she was a too-tall, too-gawky kid forced to say thank you to a cop who’d strongarmed a hop pusher. (Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 6)
If trial was likely to run past sundown, then you had to wagon-train. (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 7)

23. (BrE) sb’s strong suit* / (AmEook:) sb’s long suit
Voorbeelden (AmE) long suit:
– Finesse was not Barry’s long suit. (John Grisham, The Client, ch. 30)
Besides, riding is his long suit. (Max Brand, The Long, Long Trail, chapter 34)
He is given to rather extreme conservative opinions (…) and tact is not his long suit. (Amanda Cross, Death in a Tenured Position, chapter 11)

Voorbeelden (AmE) strong suit:
blind allegiance was her strong suit. (John Grisham, The Brethren, ch. 30)
Martyrdom was always one of her strong suits. (Michael Crichton, Avon Books, page 331)

24. (BrE) brave new world / (AmE ook:) bold new world / (Ned.) de heerlijke nieuwe wereld, het soma-paradijs
Voorbeelden BrE:
– O brave new world: she had never been to Bario’s, had dreamed of living among the select trees of Branston instead of a service area of Woodford. (Frances Fyfield, Trial by Fire, ch. 8)
– He reflected that these brave-new-worlder was trapped economically in marriage (…). (Frances Fyfield, Trial by Fire, ch. 8)
– The site (…) for a new square, new houses, new people, more customers; a brave new world. (Frances Fyfield, Deep Sleep, Prologue)

Voorbeeld AmE:
This was the bold new world (…) . > Dit was de brutale nieuwe wereld (…). (Scott Turow, The Laws of our Fathers, vertaald door Paul Hekman als “De Wet van de Macht”, 1997)

25. (BrE/AusE) like the cat that got the cream
(AmE) like the cat that got (ate/swallowed) the canary
(Ned) als een haas in een knollentuin = zo zelfvoldaan

Voorbeeld (AmE):
But as I look at her she is smiling, like the cat that got the canary. >  … als de vos die de kip gevangen heeft (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence / Onweerlegbaar Bewijs, vertaald door Thomas Wintner, hfdst 22)
“You look like the cat that swallowed the canary.” > “Je ziet eruit als de kat die van de room heeft gesnoept. “(Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chapter 22, vertaald door Els Franci, Recht van Vergelding)

 26. (BrE) to all intents (and purposes) / (AmE) for all intents (and purposes)
Voorbeelden (AmE):
For all intents she slipped off the face of the earth (…). > Ze was praktisch van de aardbodem verdwenen. (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence / Onweerlegbaar Bewijs, vertaald door Thomas Wintner, hfdst 14)
For all intents the office is run by Tate’s number two > In feite … (Steve Martini, The Jury, chapter 2, vertaald door Hugo Kuipers, De Gezworenen)
For all intents, Enrique Ricadi owned the island. (Steve Martini. The List, chapter 23)
Jermaine was for all intents and in the eyes of the law, her agent-in-fact. (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 15)
– For all intents the house on Shoy Beach Road was the perfect place for an accident. (Steve Martini. The List, chapter 34)
If I do, and there is another killer, for all intents I may give him a free pass. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 27)
– Adam Tolt’s the firm’s managing partner, for all intents the CEO.” (Steve Martini. The Arraignment, chapter 1)
For all intents, Emiliano Ruiz seems to have vanished from the planet. (Steve Martini. Double Tap, chapter 12)
So for all intents and purposes Mr Klepp was ambushed by Mr. Madriani. (Steve Martini. Double Tap, chapter 17)
For all intents and purposes, we can, yes. (Michael Crichton, Timeline, Ballantine Books, page 272)

27. lef (hebben)
Voorbeelden (AmE) (have the) sand:
Finally I gin up enough sand to pop the question (…). (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 13)
– the person has the sand to stand up against the mob (…) (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 19)
– The Abby he was married to would never have had the sand to take his credit card. (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 24)
I muster all the sand that I can holding their eyes, riveting their attention. (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, chapter 36)
She had been (…) a girl with some sand, as she had quickly shown when both her parents had been killed (…). (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 7)

Voorbeeld (AmE) show some hair:
“Show some hair, why don’t ya.” (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 24)

Voorbeeld (AmE) have the gumption:
– I just wanted to find out if anybody else had the gumption to do it —you know, to go out of their way on this to set it straight. (Scott Turow, Reversible Errors)

Opmerking:
Het idioom ‘sand‘ in de betekenis van ‘moed’, ‘lef’, ‘pit’ komt volgens Tom Wolfe in ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’, ook in het Brits-Engels voor:
I do like a fellow with sand. (uitgesproken door het Britse personage ‘Fallow’ in Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 11)

28. kroegentocht / op kroegentocht zijn / de bloemetjes buiten zetten / aan de boemel zijn / stevig doorzakken / vrijgezellenfeest / bokkenfuif / hengstenbal
(BrE) pub crawl = (AmE) bar-hop(ping)
(AmE) bachelor brawl / bachelor party = (IntE) stag party, stag night

Voorbeeld (AmE) bar-hopping:
– Once she had married Sam, Lara had thought the bar-hopping was over. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chapter 3)

Voorbeelden (AmE): go/be on a bender = de bloemetjes buiten zetten:
he threw a bender (John Grisham, Sycamore Row)
(…) holed up on a bender. (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 13)

Voorbeeld (AmE) bachelor brawl = vrijgezellenfeest, bokkenfeest:
– We laid on the bachelor brawl for him. (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 3)

29. various idioms
(BrE) get your knickers in a twist = (AmE) get your panties in a wad, get your pants in a twist, get your shorts in a wedgie, get your undies in an uproar
(BrE) an Englishman’s home is his castle = (AmE) a man’s home is his castle
(BrE) leave well enough alone = (AmE) let well enough alone
(BrE) since the year dot = (AmE) since the year one
(BrE) cradle-snatcher = (AmE) cradle robber (= man of vrouw met veel jongere partner)

(BrE) leave sb. holding the baby = (AmE) leave sb. holding the bag
(BrE) wear the trousers = (AmE) wear the pants
(BrE) catch sb. with their trousers down – (AmE) catch sb with their pants down
(BrE) to turn the corner – (AmE) to round the corner (= weer de goede kant opgaan, aan de beterende hand zijn, het ergste gehad hebben)

Voorbeeld (AmE) leave sb. holding the bag:
– He’d left her holding the bag with an angry prosecutor at the courthouse. (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 11)

Voorbeeld (AmE) get your shorts in a wedgie:
– He kept getting his shorts in a wedgie.
(Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 14)
Without all these clueles assholes, there wouldn’ a been nobody with their undies in an uproar. (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 7)
What was all this pants-twisting fear about the house and the mortgage? (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 18)

Voorbeeld (AmE) wear the pants:
– There was never any doubt who wore the pants in the family (…). (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chapter 2)
Vance was rolling out all the gruff stuff to show Julian (…) just who wore the pants in this relationship. (Tom Wolfe, IAm Charlotte Simmons, chapter 23)

Voorbeeld (AmE) catch sb with their pants down:
– Tommy got caught with his pants down once too often. (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 7)

30. (BrE) smelling of roses / (AmE) smell like a rose
(BrE) come out smelling like roses* = succes hebben, met vlag en wimpel tevoorschijn komen, glorieus te voorschijn komen, gloriëren, triomferen
(AmE ook) come out smelling like a rose = onschuldig, met de reputatie in tact, ongeschonden

Voorbeeld (BrE) smelling like roses = glorieus:
– [After their object has been auctioned,] they could come out of it smelling of roses (BBC TV series, Bargain Hunt)
Hopefully, we’ll come out smelling of roses. (BBC TV series, Bargain Hunt)

Voorbeeld (AmE) smelling like a rose = onschuldig:
– I came out of the whole mess smelling like a rose, even though I caused all the trouble. (Richard A. Spears, American Slang Dictionary)
– You come out smelling like a rose. (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 1)

vertaaldilemma’s & tips:
De uitdrukking ‘smelling like roses’ (= succesvol, glorieus)  komt soms ook in Amerikaanse teksten voor:
Done right, you’ll end up smelling like roses. (John D. McDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain, chapter 18)

31. klokkijken / telling the time:
(BrE)  to = (AmE ook:) of  / till
(BrE) past = (AmE ook:)
after  
– quarter to four
– quarter of four
: vooral in het Noord-Oosten van de VS (zie: Josh Katz, Speaking American, 2016)
– quarter till four
: vooral in het Mid-Westen van de VS (zie: Josh Katz, Speaking American, 2016)

Voorbeelden (AmE) met ‘of’/ ‘after’ (vergeleken met to, past, before, till, ,..) 
John Steinbeck (Californië), The Winter of Our Discontent / East of Eden: – ten minutes of four – at quarter of one – quarter after
Stephen Frey, The Day Trader, chapter 11: – it’s a quarter of nine
John Grisham (south-east): a quarter after five
John D. MacDonald (north-east),
A Purple Place for Dying– at ten after nine – we were at The Sage by ten of three – It was five of six by my watch – we arrived at quarter after noon –  at ten after one – at twenty after two; April Evil: at five minutes of three – by twenty-five after four – (ook!) at a quarter to three – by ten minutes of six – it was ten minutes after six; The Gree Ripper: – at five of midnight (ch. 4); The Quick Red Fox: – twenty of one ; Darker than Amber: – it was five after two – quarter to five – by quarter of five; The Scarlet Ruse: – quarter after five; Nightmare in Pink: at ten minutes of eleven – it was twenty after eight- it was twenty minutes of four – it was quarter after ten; Pale Gray for Guilt:  After telling myself that ten of eight in the morning is beer time only for the lowest of types, I cracked a bottle of Carta Blanca (…) – And if you had any sense at all, (…) you’d have come smirking in here at quarter of, not quarter after. – I had my hands on the wheel at ten of and ten after. –  at ten minutes after four –  The bedside clock was at seven after eleven – at twenty to midnight – And right now it is quarter to nine – it was ten after one – at twenty after ten – at a few minutes before eleven; One Fearful Yellow Eye: – She sat as tall as she could, hands at ten after ten – at quarter to ten – at quarter past eight; A Deadly Shade of Gold: – quarter after midnight – a little after quarter of one – at quarter after twelve – at quarter to nine – at quarter to twelve – at about quarter of nine – at maybe quarter after – She gave me a single empty look and went on, clutching the wheel at ten after ten (chapter 14)  – it was five of eleven by my watch – at twenty after five – at ten past eight; The Turquoise Lament: Going on quarter after four on Friday morning (…) {het loopt tegen kwart over vier …] – at five of four – it was half after four – at five minutes of noon; Free Fall in Crimson: it was five after five; The Lonely Silver Rain: – at quarter to four – at twenty past six – at five to ten; Condominium: – at quarter to nine
Elmore Leonard (Detroit):
Chris looked at his watch. “What time was that?”- “Was about quarter of eleven.” (Elmore Leonard, Freaky Deaky, chapter 20)
– “What time you got?” (…) He said, “A quarter of“. (Elmore Leonard, Pagan Babies, chapter 24)
Robert looked at his watch. Five of nine, the show in twenty minutes. (Elmore Leonard, Tishomingo Blues, chapter 8)
“It’s about nine o’clock,” Stick said. (…) “It’s ten minutes of,” Mary Lou said (…). (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 15)
– [He] dropped them off (…) within a minute or so of nine o’clock, telling them he would (…) come back at exactly 9:30. (Elmore Leonard, Gold Coast, chapter 21)
He saw her again that evening at a quarter of ten in a beige pantsuit (..).  (Elmore Leonard, The Hunted, chapter 2)
Frank drove in at quarter of eight, mad. (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 2)
He came wide awake and asked what time it was (…). – “Quarter to eight (…).”- “Jesus, quarter of eight already.”(Elmore Leonard, Bandit, chapter 25)
– Stick got to Wolfgang’s at ten after three(Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 7)
– “What time is it?”- “About eleven. No, twenty-five after.”  (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 19)
Tom Wolfe:
in Vancouver, where it was 3:45 a.m., (..) in Switzerland, where it was 12:45 p.m., (…) in Tokyo, where it was a quarter of eight at night. (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 21)

Voorbeelden (AmE) met ’till’/ ‘after’:
David Baldacci (Virginia), True Blue: a quarter till …
John Grisham (Arkansas, Mississippi), The Pelican Brief, Runaway Jury: a quarter after five  – a few minutes after five – a quarter till four

Voorbeelden (IntE/AmE) met ’to’ / ‘past’:
– It was twenty to eleven (…).(Elmore Leonard, The Hunted, chapter 9)
– Angie glanced at the clock. Five past six. (
Elmore Leonard, Pagan Babies, chapter 20)
– Torres knocked on his door a few minutes past six. (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 7)

32. out of /out (the window, etc.);  off of / off
Voorbeelden (AmE) out, in plaats van (BrE) out of:
Now Torres looked out the window. (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 19)
He did not look out the window. (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 20)
– Louis was already out the door.(Elmore Leonard, Pronto, chapter 16)
Look out the window at the sights (…). (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 27)
this deal here is out the window (Elmore Leonard, Bandits, chapter 16)
She looked (…) out the window, but she couldn’t see a thing. (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 29)
She was about to (…) throw him out the door. (Steve Martini. The List, chapter 29)
– I ate looking out the window at the crowd pasing by. (Michael Crichton, A Case of Need)
Evans stared out the narrow window of the Hercules. (Michael Crichton, State of Fear, Avon Books, page 213)
He turned away, and looked back out the door. (Michael Crichton, Jurrasic Park, Ballantine Books, page 396)
– Connor was silent, staring out the window. (Michael Crichton, Rising Sun, Arrow Books page 87)

De variant ‘out of’ komt ook wel in het Amerikaans-Engels voor:
A guy gets out of a car, pops him three times, gets back in the car and drives off. (Elmore Leonard, Pronto, chapter 18)
All they could see out of the windows were military planes (…). (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 29)
They half-dragged him out of the room. (Michael Crichton, State of Fear, Avon Books, page 189)
there was nothing for Tim to do but climb out of the back door (…). (Michael Crichton, Jurrasic Park, Ballantine Books, page 185)
Connor stared out of the window. (Michael Crichton, Rising Sun, Arrow Books, page 87)

Voorbeelden (AmE) off of , in plaats van (BrE) off, (ook bij één en dezelfde auteur en in één en hetzelfde boek!):
Tolar takes his eyes off of her. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 33)
“Get off of them.” (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 33)
– … right off of Sunset [Boulevard] (Emore Leonard, Freaky Deaky)
Get your hands off of me! (Stephen Frey, The Day Trader, chapter 1)

33. (BrE) on the cards / AmE) in the cards = waarschijnlijk (zijn), in de rede (liggen)
Voorbeeld (AmE) be in the cards:
– For my part, saying no to Mario was not in the cards. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 1)
It wasn’t in the cards (David Baldacci, First Family)
– that isn’t in the cards (Stephen Frey, The Insider, chapter 11)
It’s in the cards  (John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent)
– it is clearly in the cards. (Michael Crichton, Five Patents, pagina 200)
– “I don’t think nine bucks a day is in the cards, Mr. Taylor, not for this family anyway.” (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 2)
the lab rat’s revolt was probably in the cards from the beginning. (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 4)

34. (BrE) half an hour / (AmE) a half hour, etc
Voorbeeld (AmE) a half hour:
– He’d said it would take about a half hour. (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 12)
– He had talked to a guy for about a half hour (…). (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 25)
It would take Max a half hour at least to drive up there. (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 2)
It’s going to take her at least a half hour.  (Steve Martini. Double Tap, chapter 10)
more than a half hour (John Grisham, The Street Lawyer)
After a half-hour Jeanie Geis joined me (…). (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 5)

Vergelijk de volgende voorbeelden met het weggelaten lidwoord ‘a’ voor ‘half” en het voorzetsel ‘of” na een telwoord:
– I can think of a half-dozen regimes that would love to blow the shit out of a major American city (…). (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 21)
– lights, flashing from a half-dozen black and whites (…) (Michael Crichton, Rising Sun)
– the half dozen hotels
 (Elmore Leonard, The Hunted, chapter 17)
– I save Harry a half million by setting him up with Michael (…). (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, chapter 14)
a half million people (John Grisham, The Client)
a half dozen clients (John Grisham, The Pelican Brief)
a half kilometer (David Baldacci, Deliver Us from Evil)
They put a half-million dollars into renovating the house. (John D. MacDonald, The Green Ripper, chapter 1)
a couple dozen (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 5)
– a half-mile away (…)
a half dozen cruisers (John D. MacDonald, A Deadly Shade of Gold, chapter 14)
a half-quart of gin (John D. MacDonald, The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper, chapter 10)
– a half-dozen people (Michael Crichton, , The Andromeda Strain, chapter 10)

35. (BrE) in the street / (AmE) on the street / (BrE) on the road / (AmE) in the road
In het Amerikaans-Engels is de gebruikelijke woordcombinatie  ‘on the street‘, maar ‘in the street’ komt ook voor, onder andere in de boeken van Michael Crichton. In het Brits-Engels is de gebruikelijke combinatie ‘in the street’.

Voorbeelden (AmE) on the street:
I’d have to leave my car on the street all night. (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 17)
This woman stops me on the street (Elmore Leonard, Bandit, chapter 2)
He told the cops it happened out on the street. (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, chapter 7)
– It’s against the law to be seen on the street. (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, chapter 10)
Any American company has to show a profit every three months or the CEO and the officers will be out on the street. (Michael Crichton, Rising Sun, Arrow Books, page 239)
– The rush of a car going by on the street. (Michael Crichton, Rising Sun, Arrow Books, page 369)
It was raining; the light on the street was gray and bleak. (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books, page 180)
Don’t smile at a kid on the street. (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books, page 247)
he was driving on a strange street (John Grisham, The Client)
She was living on Chestnut Street, a very good address. (Michael Crichton, A Case of Need)

Voorbeeld (AmE sporadisch) in the street:
Get them out in the street. (Michael Crichton, Rising Sun, Arrow Books, page 368)
Listening to kids laughing in the steet outside. (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books, page 375)
– He was half in the street (Michael Crichton, A Case of Need)

Voorbeeld (AmE) in the road:

– I see Bertie standing in the road. (Elmore Leonard, Bandit, chapter 24)

36. (BrE) in the weekend / (AmE) on the weekend
Voorbeelden (AmE) on the weekend:
Where did she go on weekends? (Michael Crichton, A Case of Need)

37.(BrE) at the back (of) / (AmE) in back of / in the back
Voorbeelden (AmE) in back of:
the balustrade in back of the prosecutor’s table (Tim Green, The Letter of the Law, chapter 10)
Morton’s living room looked out on the garden in back of the house. (Michael Crichton, State of Fear, Avon Books, page 65)
– He sat in the back, staring out the window (…). (Michael Crichton, State of Fear, Avon Books, page 209)

38. idiomatische uitdrukkingen met de betekenis ‘de zak krijgen’, ‘de laan uitgestuurd worden’, etc.: give sb the pink slip, sb’s walking papers, can sb. 
(AmE) get the pink slip = ontslag krijgen / (AmE) give them their walking papers = (AmE) get canned
De specifieke idiomatische uitdrukking pink slip / get the pink slip / be pinkslipped / give sb. the pink slip, in de betekenis van ‘respectievelijk ‘ontslagbriefje’, ‘ontslag krijgen’ en ‘ontslag geven’, is gebaseerd op de meer algemene betekenis van (AmE) pink slip = pink telephone slip / pink message slip = memo.

Voorbeeld (AmE) pink slip = ontslagbriefje:
A woman named Wendy (..) delivers the pink slips to those who are canned. “So many people have been fired,” says Lenora. (Steve Martini, The Judge, Prologue)

Voorbeelden van (AmE) pink slip = memo(-briefje):
– (…) forging her name on the pink slip(Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Mitigating Circumstances, chapter 12)
– Lily had a pink slip in her hand, handed to her by one of the secretaries, stating that Detective Margie Thomas had called. (
Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Mitigating Circumstances, chapter 25)

As she passed her secretary’s desk, the girl held out a stack of pink slips, messages (…). (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Mitigating Circumstances, chapter 30)
– He grabbed a stack of pink message slips. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chapter 11)
– She pushed a pink telephone slip across the top of her desk. (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 4)

Voorbeelden (AmE) give sb his’her walking papers = ontslag krijgen, de zak krijgen:
give them their walking papers (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chapter 1)
Ruiz had been given his walking papers.  (Steve Martini. Double Tap, chapter 26)

39. omkopen, smeergeld betalen, steekpenningen geven: grease sb’s palm, grease the wheels, grease the skids
Voorbeelden (AmE):
– If they greased somebody’s palm for permits (…). (Steve Martini. The Arraignment, chapter 2)
“It’s hard to tote your load without greasing the skids,” says Adam.  (Steve Martini. The Arraignment, chapter 13)
The captain of Enrique’s yacht had greased it for them (…). (Steve Martini. The List, chapter 27)

40. (BrE) pomp and circumstance = (AmE) pomp and ceremony = (Ned) pracht en praal
Voorbeeld (AmE) pomp and ceremony: 
– in: Tom Wolfe, I Am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 1 

41. idiomatische uitdrukkingen met de betekenis ‘een steekje los zitten’, ‘ze niet allemaal op een rijtje hebben’, ‘het buskruit niet uitgevonden hebben, ‘ze zien vliegen’, ‘niet al te snugger zijn’, etc:
Voorbeelden: (AmE) fall off the turnip truck = achterlijk zijn, van gisteren zijn
– those boys must have fallen from the turnip truck (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 8)
I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday. (Stephen Frey, The Day Trader, chapter 16)

Voorbeelden in Amerikaans-Engels/Internationaal Engels van variaties op ‘be one sandwich short of a picnic:
he’s a few sandwiches short of a picnic. (Scott Turow, Reversible Errors)
The guy is one bubble left of level. (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, chapter 16)

Voorbeelden (AmE) off your rocker:
She was (..) off her rocker (John Grisham, Sycamore Row)

42. flip/give sb the bird = de middelvinger tegen iemand opsteken
Voorbeelden (AmE) shoot/flip/give sb the bird = de middelvinger tegen iemand opsteken:
Donovan shot him the bird. (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, chapter 12)
A fist shot out from the driver’s window, then an angry middle finger, and Kyle received his first bird. (John Grisham, The Associate, chapter 29)
She shook her head and gave him a stubborn expression when he pointed to the way out again. When he did it a third time she flipped him off. (David Baldacci, Zero Day, chapter 89)

43. (AmE ook) visit with, meet with
Voorbeelden (AmE) visit with:
Stern had visited with their lawyers. (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 3)
Brought somebody wants to visit with you. (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 10)
– It was nice to visit with you. (John D. MacDonald, The Quick Red Fox, chapter 5)
– Mr. Broon visits with him. (John D. MacDonald, The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper, chapter 15)

Voorbeelden (AmE) meet with:
he would meet with Cal Hopkinson. (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 16)
– to meet with the American people face to face (…). (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 5)

44. idiomatische uitdrukkingen met de betekenis ‘dol/woest worden’,  uit je plaat/dak gaan’, ‘doordraaien’
(AmE) go apeshit / go ballistic / blow a gasket

Voorbeeld (AmE) blow a gasket = uit zijn dak gaan, in woede ontsteken, de stoppen sloegen door:
– the old man would blow a gasket if he knew any of the kids (…) were dealing. (John D. MacDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain, chapter 12)

Voorbeeld (AmE) apeshit:
Man’s apeshit about pancakes. (Elmore Leonard, Unknown Man #89, chapter 14)

45. idiomatische uitdrukkingen met de betekenis ‘(smoor)verliefd’/ ‘stapelgek’ / ’tot over je oren verliefd’ op iemand worden
Voorbeelden (AmE) have/get the hots for sb:
I had the hots for Joe Perry, I followed them around on tour and partied with them. (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 9)

46. iemand voor de gek houden
(IntE) pull somebody’s leg
(AmE ook) pull/jerk/yank somebody’s chain

Voorbeeld (AmE) jerk sb’s chain:
Vincent finds it amusing to jerk my chain. (Stephen Frey, The Day Trader, chapter 8)
– (…) trying to gauge if Michelle was pulling his chain or not. (David Baldacci, First Family)
I just get my jollies pulling his chain. (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers)
You jerking my chain?” he asks the chief. (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 19)

47. iemand op de kast jagen = drive sb up the wall

48. in de soep lopen, in het honderd lopen
(AmE) go haywire

Voorbeeld (AmE) go haywire:
– Something went haywire. (John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday, chapter 18) 
– Something went haywire there for sure
(Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Mitigating Circumstances, chapter 40)
Things go haywire (David Baldacci, Saving Faith)

49. (AmE) crock (of shit) = (1) complete onzin, kolder (2) waardeloos ding, prul
(AmE) a crock (of shit), BS, bullshit, a hoax, a sham

Voorbeelden (AmE figuurlijk) a crock = (1) kolder, onzin:
– That’s a crock of shit, okay? (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence)
For all I know you think that soft, romantic crock of shit, The Godfather, was for real. (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 3)
(…) people who think that cliamte change is a crock. (David Baldaci, Hell’s Corner)
– I’m sorry, but that is bullshit, Denise. That is a crock. (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections)
Then the information he gave me was a crock. (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 13)
“I’ll tell you that everything he said in that courtroom is a crock,” he says. “A pack of lies.” (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 17)
– I knew that whole routine was a crock. (Scott Turow, Pleading Guilty)

Voorbeeld (AmE figuurlijk) a crock =  waardeloos ding, prul:
– “Won’t this thing go any faster than this?”- “Not enough to matter.” (…) – “It’s a real crock.”- But it’s my real crock.” (
that soft, romantic crock of shit (…) (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 3)
And after next season this old crock hotel will need a quarter mil of maitenance and redecorating. (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 3)
– We’ll take this crock over to the gas dock and top off the tanks. (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 17)

50. (BrE/IntE) a case in point / (AmE ook) a case on point
Voorbeelden (AmE ook) a case on point:
There was a case on point last month in California: nineteen point four million dollars, found for the plaintiff. (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books, page 282)

Voorbeelden (AmE/IntE) a case in point:
– And women will take advantage as often as men. A case in point being the delightful Ms Johnson. (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books, pages 303, 304)

51. a beef / have a beef with sb/ to beef (verb)
(AmE) beef = (1) probleem, (2) ruzie, mot (= a grudge) (3) klacht,  (4) aanklacht (= charge(s))

Voorbeelden (AmE) What’s the beef? = What’s the problem?
What the hell is the beef? (John Steinbeck, Cannary Row)
“Helping what? On probation beefs? Are you throwing files away?” (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers)
– In the beginning I didn’t have any beefs. My medical care was adequate and everyone at the department was supportive. (Nancy Taylor Roenberg, Trial by Fire, chapter 15)

Voorbeelden (AmE) have a beef with somebody = (IntE) a bone to pick = het met iemand aan de stok hebben, mot hebben met iemand, een appeltje te schillen hebben:
– “Has some kind of modern-day Charlie Manson freak with a beef against the government got Willa?”(David Baldacci, First Family)
Anyone got a beef to pick with you? (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice)

Voorbeeld (AmE) beef = klacht:
– “Everybody welcome to air their beefs with the mine company.” – “No jobs,” Raylan said, “and coal dust settling on everything you own.”(Elmore Leonard, Raylan, chapter 16)
– This’s gonna be my retirement and if it doesn’t come through I can’t complain to some insurance company, can I? No, I got to take my beef to you and Mary and you know what I mean by that. (Elmore Leonard, The Cat Chaser, chapter 23)

Voorbeeld (AmE) to beef = klagen:
Was he beefing? (Scott Turow< Personal Injuries)

Voorbeeld (AmE) beef = aanklacht:
It was not Zeke’s first bust, but these charges, for having supposedly joined other gangbangers in burning down the apartment of a young man attempting to quit, carried a mandatory prison term. It was a bad beef on a bad kid, mud the cops were willing to throw at the wall because it was time something stuck. (Scott Turow, Limitations, chapter 7)
– And he’s up at McNeil, freezing his toches in the admittedly plush cell, his pet bulldog Mickey Cohen, Jr., keeping his tootsies warm, his money man Davey Goldman, also convicted of tax beefs, warming a cell down the hail. (James Ellroy, L.. Confidential, chapter 27)

Voorbeeld (AmE) to beef out:

Voorbeeld (AmE) beef = muscle = spierkracht, brute kracht:
They had the beef, the buzz cuts, the firepower, the veneer of authority. (David Baldacci, King and Maxwell, chapter 25)

 52. afgang, flop, een domper op de feestvreugde
(AmE) a wet firecracker = (BrE) a damp squib

Voorbeeld (AmE) a wet firecracker:
I’m a wet firecracker (Norman Mailer, Tough Guys Don’t Dance)

53. (go on) a junket = snoepreisje
Voorbeelden (AmE) go on a junket:
Your’re a single parent, you’re not going on any junket. (Michael Chrichton, Rising Sun)
I’ve told her he’s on a junket, a trip into the jungle of southern Mexico for more color. (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 5)

54. the willies, the jitters, hebie-jeebie shakes, the jollies, the drearies, the cutes, the smarts, the vapors ….
Voorbeeld (AmE) the jitters:

Voorbeelden (AmE) the willies:
Any chance the boys upstairs’ll bounce a case back gives him the willies. (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, chapter 12)
The willies or the creeps. (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 6)
It gave him the willies. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chpter 26)
What really gave him the willies (…) (Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual, chapter 4)
– The old-country grandmother, however, gave her – and me – the willies. (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 7)

Voorbeelden (AmE) the jollies:
I just get my jollies pulling his chain. (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers)
  (…) I had a vicious attack of the jollies, regaling them with anecdote, absurdity and one-sided repartee (…).  (John D. MacDonald, Bright Orange for the Shroud, chapter 4)

Voorbeeld (AmE) the drearies:
– In response to the unexplained drearies of my boat guests, I had a vicious attack of the jollies (…). (John D. MacDonald, Bright Orange for the Shroud, chapter 4)

Voorbeelden (AmE) heebie-jeebies, heebie-jeebie shakes:
It got worse – the heebie-jeebies. (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, Prologue)
Heebie-jeebie shakes. Ed said, “Where were you at 3:00 last night?” No answer, more shakes. “Strike a nerve, Sugar Ray? (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 12)

Voorbeeld (AmE) the cutes:
You got the cutes. (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 3)

Voorbeeld (AmE) the smarts:
You got the smarts. (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 3)

Voorbeeld (AmE) the vapors:
get the vapors (John D. MacDonald, A Deadly Shade of Gold, chapter 2)

55. the grapevine = roddel, achterklap, het roddelcircuit
Voorbeelden (AmE) grapevine = roddelcircuit:
– grapevine rumors (John Grisham, The King of Torts)
– What is about to follow comes from the office grapevine, rumors that have no confirmation on this side of the grave. (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 4)
– I’ve heard this morning, through the grapevine, that the police have run out of leads.(Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, chapter 18)
– With a shortage of Latino candidates, and affirmative action being what it is, the grapevine is full of rumors that Acosta is headed to the court of appeals. (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, chapter 24)
– He tells me he heard it on the grapevine. the construction industry being a small community. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, chapter 2)
 The only cavil she will hear, if there is one, will come in the corridors, through the grapevine. (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers)
 the prison grapevine (Scot Turow, Reversible Errors, chapter 27)
– Two of the Lats had moved to the Houston area, or so she’d heard through the prison grapevine. (David Baldacci, True Blue, chapter 42)
– Besides, the grapevine tells me you have a new lady in your life. (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 9)
 Yeah, but you guys love to shmooz and milk the grapevine. (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 66)
– My, my, the grapevine is collapsing. The wives are usually the first to know. (Michael Crichton, A Case of Need)
Among students there is an active grapevine to keep everyone informed about which house officers are good to work with and which not. (Michael Crichton, Five Patients)
Willy, your grapevine works too fast. (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 11)
I heard through the grapevine that Billy Ingraham wanted to see me (…). (John D. MacDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain, chapter 1)
There was nothing like issuing top-secret orders for a whole batch of officers in the sme outfit to make the make the grapevine start lunging out like a live wire. (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 4)

Voorbeelden (AmE) scuttlebutt = roddel, achterklap:
 For the first couple of minutes with two agents planted in my office, I thought they’d gotten scuttlebutt about Talia and me. (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, chapter 2)
 “Either in the papers or else scuttlebutt, official or otherwise, at the Agency.” (David Baldacci, Hell’s Corner, chapter 90)
Just scuttlebutt. Always wondered if it was true.” (David Baldacci, Deliver Us From Evil, chapter 19)
– The Bureau’s intel division gets chatter and scuttlebutt all the time from the dirtbag world.(David Baldacci, True Blue, chapter 1)
–  “It was scuttlebutt. I’m not sure who told me.” (David Baldacci, Zero Day, chapter 53)
– Grant expected to get some scuttlebutt about things he need to know about. (David Baldacci, King and Maxwell, chapter 47)

Voorbeeld (AmE) tom-tom:
– We’ve been hearing rumblings (…), tom-toms from the street for over a year that some cops have gone into business for themselves (…). (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 4)

 

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