Welcome to Day 6 of "THE LOST AND FOUND BILLY BATTLES" Blog Tour! @JHawker69 @4WillsPub #RRBC #RWISA.

 

 

The Lost and Found Billy Battles Tour

 

GIVEAWAY:  (2) Complete sets of the Billy Battles trilogy.  For your chance to win one, please leave a comment below!

 

 

The Awful English Language (Part 2)

 

The United States has many wonderful attributes: amazing natural beauty, modern conveniences, an amazing collection of creative and talented people. However, the United States also has the Awful English Language—which is the Heinz 57 of the world’s languages.

It is confusing, illogical, and well, awful to learn.

Just look at these conundrums of the English language.

If lawyers are disbarred, and clergymen defrocked, does it not follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, or drycleaners depressed?

Laundry workers could decrease, eventually becoming depressed and depleted.

Even more, bed makers could be debunked, baseball players debased, landscapers deflowered, software engineers detested, underwear manufacturers debriefed, and even musical composers will eventually decompose.

On a different note, though, perhaps we can hope that some politicians will be devoted.

Yes, English is a crazy language. Of course English is a creation of humanity, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.

That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

There are also dozens of illogical idioms we hear every day. Such as:

“Head over heels" (in love, for example). Surely the phrase should be "heels over head."

"Meteoric rise" (to fame, for example). Meteors don't rise. They fall.

"Quantum Leap" (meaning a big change). A quantum leap is a very small change, but at least it is large on the scale of atoms.

"To leapfrog" over something. Surely it should be "frog leap" over.

He "turned up dead." That's used mainly in the US. Turning up, even when you are dead, takes real determination.

"Back-to-back" meaning consecutive, e.g., back-to-back wins. It should be "back-to-front," I think. The end of one thing is followed by the start of the next thing and not the end of it. Unfortunately, "back-to-front" already has a different meaning.

Finally, there are these ten meaningless and irritating English clichés and expressions that should be banned forever. I cringe whenever I hear them, which is every day—especially by newsreaders and political pundits on television.

• At the end of the day
• At this moment in time
• The bottom line
• I personally
• With all due respect
• It's a nightmare
• Fairly unique
• Shouldn't of (ouch!)
• 24/7
• It's not rocket science-

PS: Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick'?

 

 

BOOK BLURB:

 

The Finding Billy Battles trilogy tells the story of a remarkable man who is born in 1860 and who dies in 1960. For decades Billy lives an improbable and staggering life of adventure, peril, transgression, and redemption. Then Billy mysteriously disappears. For several decades his family has no idea where he is or what he is doing.

Finally, with his life coming to an end, Billy resurfaces in an old soldiers’ home in Leavenworth, Kansas. It is there, when he is 98 that he meets his 12-year-old great-grandson and bequeaths his journals and his other property to him — though he is not to receive them until he is much older.

Years later, the great-grandson finally reads the journals and fashions a three-volume trilogy that tells of his great-grandfather's audacious life in the old west, as well as his journeys to the Far East of the 1890s—including French Indochina and The Philippines—and finally, in the early 20^th century, to Europe and Latin America where his adventures and predicaments continue. One thing readers can be sure of, wherever Billy Battles goes trouble is not far behind.

 

 

AUTHOR BIO:

 

Ronald E. Yates is a multi-award-winning author of historical fiction and action/adventure novels, including the popular and highly-acclaimed Finding Billy Battles trilogy. His extraordinarily accurate books have captivated fans around the world who applaud his ability to blend fact and fiction.

Ron is a former foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and Professor Emeritus of Journalism at the University of Illinois where he was also the Dean of the College of Media.

The Lost Years of Billy Battles is the final book in the trilogy and recently won the Independent Press Award’s 2020 Distinguished Favorites Award. In 2019 it also won Best Overall Book of the year and the Grand Prize in the Goethe Historical Fiction Category from Chanticleer International Book Awards as well as a Book Excellence Award and a New Apple Award. The second book in the trilogy, The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles, was published in June 2016. It won the 2017 KCT International Literary Award and the New Apple Award in the Action/Adventure category. The first book in the trilogy, "Finding Billy Battles," was published in 2014 and won a Book Excellence Award and Laramie Award from Chanticleer International Book Awards.

As a professional journalist, Ron lived and worked in Japan, Southeast Asia, and both Central and South America where he covered several history-making events including the fall of South Vietnam and Cambodia; the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing; and wars and revolutions in Afghanistan, the Philippines, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, among other places. His work as a foreign correspondent earned him several awards including three Pulitzer Prize nominations.

Ron is a frequent speaker about the media, international affairs, and writing. He is a Vietnam era veteran of the U.S. Army Security Agency and lives just north of San Diego in Southern California’s wine country.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

-Twitter   https://twitter.com/jhawker69

-Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ronaldyatesbooks/

-Website   https://ronaldyatesbooks.com/

 

AMAZON OR OTHER PURCHASE LINKS:

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KHDVZI/-/e/B00KQAYMA8/

Barnes & Noble:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/finding%20billy%20battles/_/N-8q8

 

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To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author's tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site.  If you'd like to schedule your own blog tour and have your book promoted in a similar grand fashion, please click HERE.  Thanks for supporting this author and his work!

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Ron Yates]

Thanks for hosting me today, Bernard. It's a pleasure to be here.

[Joy Lo-Bamijoko]

The fun of the English language continues. Yes, it is fun to think of what it could be which it is not... Thank you, Bernard, for hosting.

[Bernard Foong]

Hi, Ron,
The English language is indeed a strange language but then all languages have their own quirks, clichés, idioms, etc. :)

[Yvette M Calleiro]

These had me cracking up! I love them. Thanks for sharing them with us today, Ron, and thanks for hosting him, Bernard. :-)

[Bette Stevens]

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT! Fun and thought provoking...

[Wendy Scott]

Wonderful examples, Ron!

[Breakfield and Burkey]

Ron, these are some wonderful examples about how crazy English is. But it's the only I can write in. By the way Ron, thank you for your service to this country!

Bernard I I have not visited your site before and I should have. Thanks for hosting.

[Jan Sikes]

A most humorous look at our convoluted English language! Thanks for the humor, Ron, and thank you, Bernard for hosting!

[Bernard Foong]

It is always a pleasure to host fellow RRBC and RWISA authors. Thank you for visiting my book blog site.