The Happy Phrase : Everyday Conversation Made Easily

Have you ever found yourself out of words? Lost for how to perfectly express that need or desire? Tongue-tied in an array of social situations? Finally, the solution is here.

A compendium of hundreds of phrases to assist even the most inarticulate speaker of English. A phrasebook that will exhaustively prepare you for the trickiest conversational crisis. A how-to-guide for those who don’t have the time or inclination to actually learn.

Simply commit these useful, everyday phrases to memory and you will soon be conversing like a native. From Abu Dhabi to Zurich, in Xinjiang and Bechuanaland, at all corners of the globe, in places elevated and depressed, English is employed by all and sundry who move and shake. Why be bereft?

No situation uncovered.
No circumstance ignored.
No translation necessary.

With extended advice on punctuation, pronunciation, cultural traps and linguistic loopholes, as well as some fun facts and handy hints to make your conversation sparkle, The Happy Phrase is the only phrase book you’ll ever need. Here, in one facile publication, the wherewithal to chit-chat with other also English speakers lies within your grasp!

Praise for The Happy Phrase:

‘It’s raucously schizophrenic, an absolute piss-take of the English language…In fact this pocket book is about as contrived, pastiche and difficult to put down as its rustically attractive cover might suggest. Read it on the train ride home, laugh out loud, but don’t try explaining to anyone sane what the hell it is you’re laughing at.’

Cream

‘Don’t be fooled by the compact size of The Happy Phrase. Its content is large in vernacular and enormous in levity. This book is best digested in small bites, to appreciate the pithy, full flavour of this jovial compendium on the English language.’ ‘The sharp wit juxtaposed with the absurd, invites the reader to move from laughter to admiration for the wild imagination behind such genius.’

Eureka Street

‘Shane Maloney and Guy Rundle take a more Monty Pythonesque approach to the curiosities of language in The Happy Phrase…The humour infiltrates every punctuation mark and if you like Spike Milligan, chances are you will chuckle all the way through.’

Courier-Mail