THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

Figures of Speech and Colloquialisms

Below are a variety of figures of speech, slang and colloquialisms from the novel A Catcher in the Rye.

In small groups, do the following for the odd numbers – or the even numbers - as you are assigned:

1. Find and record the actual sentence. 2. Write what Holden means when he says, “…”? 3. Explain what this looks like. For instance, if you were to draw each figure of speech, how would it look? ______1. “Getting the ax…” p. 4 2. “Hitting the ceiling…” p. 8 3. “Sharp as a tack…” p. 10 4. “False alarm…” p. 10 5. “Mad about history…” p. 11 6. “Cement bed…” p. 11 7. “Hot as a firecracker…” p. 12 8. “Opposite sides of the pole…” p. 15 9. “I’ll drop you a line.” P. 15 10. “Pot of dough…” p. 16 11. “The only ones in the can…” p. 26 12. “Broken her heart…” p. 26 13. “I hate the movies like poison…” p. 29 14. “Horsing around…” 15. “Laughing like hyenas…” p. 37 16. “Snowing his date…” p. 49 17. “Everybody was in the sack…” p. 53 18. “Money really talks…” p. 69 19. “Giving the old eye…” p. 69 20. “Giving them the freeze…” p. 70 (77) 21. “Over her head…” p. 72 22. “Was like dragging the Statue of Liberty around the floor…” p. 74 23. “She knocked me out…” p. 77 24. “Shoot the bull…” p. 81 25. “Tossed his cookies…” p. 81 26. “Bat out of hell…” p. 83 27. “Clapped their heads off…” p. 84 28. “I’m partly yellow…” p. 89 29. “Smells like 50 million dead cigars…” p. 90 30. “I ran like a madman across the street…” p. 199