Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. Drib
I always enjoy discovering new anatomical anomalies in my reading, such as this one from a novel by Douglas Boren. This is the opening, first paragraph of the novel:
With her heart in her throat, Maggie ran down the great hallway, summoned by her master’s stern voice. Lord Myron Victor of Cheswyck brooked no tardiness, laziness, nor excuses.
It's listed as Historical Fiction, but I imagine one could easily place this in science fiction. I'm presuming the heroine didn't choke to death, although one could argue that she was already dead. Or do I presume too much? 
Any eyeballs-in-the-armpit novels out there?
Don
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Actually, I've heard that "heart in my throat" expression before. It isn't meant to be literal, but an attempt to convey a feeling of fear/anxiety. Maybe it just isn't used much any more.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_b...sages/185.html
I recently read an otherwise decent book where at one point a character sat on a sofa "with her legs tucked behind her". I was picturing some kind of Chinese acrobat.....
As for the suspenders/braces thing - as an American, the first thing I would think if I read that a character was wearing braces, was that the character had orthodontic braces on their teeth. Hmm- what do Brits call those?
I'm fine with reading British and Australian books, though - I don't need an Americanized version. One thing I love about my Sony PRS-T1 is that it has both American English and Oxford English dictionaries - the Oxford dictionary is very helpful to me when I read a British book.