Hi, Denis!  Recently you wrote in netmail to Ardith Hinton:   
      
   AH>  More information on request....  :-)   
      
   DM>  Request!   
      
      
              Okay... but first, a bit of personal history.  Years ago I ran   
   across a hastily scribbled note I had written to myself in a certain high   
   school French class.  In this class I found the teacher's offhand remarks the   
   most interesting part of the lesson sometimes.  My note was a translation of   
   an expression we use in English... "put that in your pipe & smoke it", a   
   rather cheeky or jocular way of saying "think about it".  Literally the French   
   say "put that in your pocket & your moustache also".  Either way it's a   
   metaphor, an idiomatic expression which can't meaningfully be translated word   
   for word into another language.   
      
              I find such figures of speech very amusing & entertaining, and when   
   I became involved with this echo I realized my Russian correspondents do   
   too... so when Google referred me to a book written by somebody with a Russian   
   name I paid attention.  I checked a number of other entries & liked what I   
   saw....  :-)   
      
              There is a lengthy excerpt at https://books.google.ca... [blah   
   blah], or http://tinyurl.com/j2xfc4h.  An easier way to locate it might be to   
   type some expression you're curious about & ask for a definition.  E.g.   
      
                       cash in (on) something   
                       catch a tiger by the tail   
                       cat's whiskers   
      
              Anyway, the copy I have is a paperback edition of   
      
                       A COLLECTION OF CONFUSABLE PHRASES   
                       by Yuri Dolgopolov   
                       published in 2004 by Llumina Press, Coral Springs, FL (USA)   
      
   I believe there may be an earlier edition published in the UK, possibly with   
   the spelling "confusible", but haven't been able to find out much about it.    
   The one I have includes Americanisms which might not be in a UK version.    
   AFAIK both are out of print now, at any rate, but Amazon has new & used copies   
   for sale.   
      
              According to the "blurb" on the back of my copy the author was   
   indeed educated in Russia & has worked as a translator & English instructor in   
   "diverse cultural and ethnic surroundings".  I'd like to know more about   
   him... and maybe somebody who understands Russian can add a bit of input   
   there.  Apparently I was right, however, when I sensed he understands what   
   Russians want to know....  ;-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)