Off the Clock: A Lexicon of Time Words and Expressions [Hardcover]

Kimberly Olsen Fakih (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 1994

Off the Clock is a wonderfully varied collection of words about time and the legends, historical anecdotes, and scientific facts that explain the expressions.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5 Up?The focus of this collection of time-related words and idioms is not time measured by the clock, but time as experienced or felt?down through the ages and across cultures. A preface discusses the concept and relevance of time, then comes an alphabetical listing of some 75 terms?"Bee time," "Canonical hours," "Dillydallying," "Elevenses," "Garden," "Matinee," "Tempo," etc.?followed by a few paragraphs of explanation and/or rumination. Science is rarely the basis for the discussion; rather, folklore, religion, anthropology, and history are called upon. Examples are from many different cultures and bias is pointedly rejected, though assumptions are sometimes made about readers' knowledge of Christian concepts. The tone is conversational and the information interesting; the layout is attractive, with an appropriate black-and-white woodcut or engraving (some sourced) gracing each page; and the author is sympathetic to kids' perceptions. Yet one wonders who will read this volume. The selection is broad, but idiosyncratic, with no index, and only occasional cross-references, so its usefulness for specific inquiries is dicey. Browsing is a possibility, and certainly no other juvenile titles address the language of time so directly. Marilyn Burns's This Book Is about Time (Little, 1978) covers some of the same information, together with much more in the way of science/math activities. Even though Fakih's effort tries for relevance, and has a wide scope (reflected in its eclectic bibliography), this is a subject adults, rather than young people, tend to chew on.?Nancy Palmer, The Little School, Bellevue, WA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-10. In a chatty blend of folklore, anthropology, myth, history, semantics, and physics, Fakih looks at how we talk about time. The alphabetical arrangement is a bit arbitrary, with extra "trivia and second thoughts" lumped together in a final section, but kids will dip into this and browse rather than read it from beginning to end. The tone is casual, funny, sometimes lyrical, with a relaxed combination of fact and metaphor and a natural mix of cultures. For example, the entry about daylight saving time is followed by talk about dillydallying, dog days, and then the dreamtime of the Australian aborigines. Fakih switches easily from the poetic ("Dawn has always been a time of great hush and great violence") to the matter-of-fact ("Evening can be a time for play, snacks, television, or homework"). There are occasional black-and-white illustrations from a number of sources, many of them historical, and there's a bibliography, but more detailed endnotes would have been useful for readers who want to follow up on what intrigues them. This is a natural for cross-curricular projects in the classroom and the library. Hazel Rochman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (December 30, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395663741
• ISBN-13: 978-0395663745
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,318,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YOU NEED TO TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS ONE!, May 17, 2008

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Off the Clock: A Lexicon of Time Words and Expressions (Hardcover)

First, in case there is any doubt in anyone's mind, I am a simple person who enjoys simple things. I also am a collector of absolutely worthless information (to anyone but myself), and enjoy odd things...as long as they are simple. I actually do enjoy watching a cat sleep, and indeed, the grass grow. This little book, a simple book, is an absolute delight for folks like me. The powers that be have declared this a work for fifth grade and up. I have to agree with that, but certainly not in the condescending manner the School Library Journal or Booklist have. Those people are so very much brighter and knowledgeable than most of us, that it is difficult to write a review of a work they have already covered. I personally have found that a lot of the little volumes found in our "children's libraries" are just as informative as those found in dusty Doctorial dissertations, and that they certainly a lot more fun! Off The Clock, by Kimberly Olson Fakih, is simply a hoot and is a very informative read, for both the young and the not so young!

This short book deals with time. It is a collection of folklore, tales, historical data, expressions, words, phrases and bits of this a chunks of that, all dealing with time. Do you know how quick a "blink" is? What is a Canonical hour? When is eventide? Do you know what Linnaeus's Flower Clock is and do you know how to read it? (Like say, if I would tell you it is half-past a White Water Lily, would you know the time?). How about the word or term "Kairos" and how would you apply it to a kiss? When is "tea time" and did you know it is different for Alice (of Wonderland fame) and Winnie the Pooh? How long was an Aztec or Maya year...hint, they called it a "lamat."

As has been pointed out, there is no index in this book, so it makes this work a bit difficult to use when doing a research paper for school. Gosh, how terrible. Can you imagine the horror that one must go through reading a work simply for the sheer joy and general curiosity, and not being able to use it as a reference footnote? Gasp...that is almost academically sacrilegious! I suppose we should try to purge our public and school libraries of such trivial tripe. (He sarcastically said).

This book has been delightfully illustrated with black and white engravings, which resemble old wood engravings, most in a medieval style...very simple, but very effective. The text is easy on the eye and mind. It informs in a conversational mode and will not send your eyes to the back of your head out of sheer boredom when you read it. The author can be both amusing and poetic, all in the same paragraph. The book has been criticized for not being detailed enough for those who want more information on some of the subjects addressed here. Here again, it seems it is a terrible thing to force someone to actually do their own research on a subject that interest them.

Well, it is the "shank of the afternoon" here, and near my tea time and I do not want to get into to a lengthy nemawashi with my wife over when we will actually eat. Recommend this one highly. You will get a bit of a kick out of it.